Pretender Chronicles
by daywalker03
Summary: What if there were Transformers on Earth before the arrival of Team Prime that did not look like the Transformers we all know, but were nevertheless Robots in Disguise? Meet Mae and Butch Franklin of the Northclan; they are Pretenders, and this is their story. Starts during Darkness Rising.
1. Smoke on the Water

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue, Part 1: Smoke on the Water

Mae Franklin frowned as the cell phone in her pocket began chirping at her insistently. She reluctantly took it out and looked at the number on the display. /* Wonderful; I thought I told him not to call unless it was truly important, */ she thought to herself as she answered the call. "Mae speaking; what is so important that you couldn't wait til we were done with our vacation, Agent Johnson?"

"Sorry to intrude on your travels, Mae, but there has been a strange blast in the general area that you will be traveling through and my superiors thought it would be prudent if you investigated it since you were so close," Agent Johnson said over the phone. Mae sighed softly and looked over at Butch, her traveling companion then asked pointedly, "What sort of strange are we talking about, Johnson?"

"Strange as in we had no idea there was anything even remotely explosive in the area where it happened, though there have been rumors of "mysterious metal titans" surfacing in the usual online locations that lead me to believe it is related to the Voidwalkers," Agent Johnson responded. His voice sounded tired, and Mae suspected that he'd been making calls all day to find out if his usual sources knew anything; that his "superiors" had insisted that she be notified about this did not bode well for the vacation that she and Butch were on.

/* _There goes the vacation, Guardian? */_ The soft voice in her head made her look over at Butch; he was suited up in his riding gear and hefting his helmet in his right hand, but the look in his eyes did not match the cheerless tone of his words. She knew that he suspected that their long isolation from their own kind was coming to an end, and that it would mean an end to their neutrality in an ancient matter. /* _Sort of; something has caught the attention of the Others, and we've been "asked" to investigate,_ */ she said to him while speaking to Agent Johnson. "Tell your superiors that we will do it, but we may be out of touch for a time before we submit our report."

"Fair enough, Mae; I also understand that you have your reasons for doing this, you know. I can't officially sanction any activities beyond investigation of the blast, but do be careful and keep me informed of your actions, so I can keep those individuals that need to know properly informed."

"Of course, Agent Johnson," Mae said, winking at Butch. "You have a good day, Sir."

"I will; tell Butch I'll make it up to him somehow," Agent Johnson said as he hung up the phone.

/* Yeah, I'll bet you will, Johnson */ Mae thought to herself as she put the cell phone back in her pocket. "Butch, Agent Johnson seems to think he needs to apologize to you for this interruption in our plans," Mae said aloud, looking in the direction of the young man.

A soft chuckle escaped the lips of the young man then he said, "I don't think he's really forgotten what he's been told about us, so I suspect that was mostly for show at the other end. Now, what exactly have we been asked to investigate and why are the Others so interested in finding out?"

Mae smiled and said, "Straight to the point as always, sweetspark; not that I expect anything less from you, of course. Agent Johnson said that there has been a "strange blast" in the general area we will be traveling through; apparently it's got the Others spooked or he wouldn't have called us. Perhaps we should get a move on and see what we can find."

Butch grinned as he replied, "Agreed, and I think we should hurry; no telling what innocent bystander might get hurt if they get curious about the blast."

Mae and Butch walked out of the motel room they had rented the day before. Mae went to return the keys to the motel clerk and Butch went over to check on their transportation; a nearly matched pair of Can-Am Spyder F3 three wheeled motorcycles. These were not stock models either; both had been highly modified from stock to suit the riders needs, and performed much better than they had when they first came off of the assembly line. As Butch approached his Turquoise Blue model, he put on his helmet and dropped the face shield; the cycle responded to this by displaying its status on a heads up display inside the helmet and it queried him as to whether he would need a direct data feed, to which he responded in the negative. Mae's Teal Green model also greeted him and directed a question at him that he wasn't certain how to answer, so he indicated that it should ask Mae directly. It politely thanked him for his honesty and playfully revved its engine at him as Mae approached.

Mae put on her helmet and Teal asked, /* _Interrogative: Destination changed? New coordinates needed?_ */ Mae frowned at the question, but replied, /* _Not as yet; we will follow the previously planned course until we detect whatever caused the situation we have been informed of_. */ Teal replied /* _Understood._ */ Mae got on Teal as Butch sat astride his cycle and they slowly pulled onto the highway heading roughly toward a little town called Jasper Nevada.

About fifty miles down the road, Mae began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she noticed a faint bluish smoke rising off to the left of the road. Butch saw it too and said /* _That is odd; no apparent reason for a fire of any sort that I can see. I'll bet that's where the blast we're to investigate occurred._ */ /* _Concur with primary: not natural fire_ */ Turq chimed in over the common channel. /* _Yeah, I can feel the tugging of something familiar in the area, but I've not got a feel for what it is yet,_ */ Mae responded as she threw the handlebars to the left and pulled off the road. Butch followed her, but stopped short. /* _Guardian, there are tire tracks here, heading off toward where the smoke is; helmet scanner is chirping madly too. But I'm having trouble making sense of the readings I'm getting._ */

Mae had kept going as Butch and Turq made their discoveries and reported them to her, but she stopped in shock at the sight she saw; a vaguely round pit approximately 200 feet across with bluish crystal fragments scattered around inside it. Much of the crystal was blackened by the explosion, but the small fragments glittered in a way that was quite unnatural compared to most crystals she was familiar with. She got off Teal and, with careful steps, approached the largest fragments that she saw. She knelt down and carefully broke off a small chunk of the crystal and took a close look at it with the sensor array in her helmet. /* _Butch, get over here; I just found some raw Energon,_ */ she said quickly, standing up and scanning the area for any signs of trouble. /* _And there was a fight; don't know who set the stuff off, but someone had to have gotten hurt in the process._ */

Butch pulled up next to Teal and got off Turq; looking around he noticed the massive footprints that had been left, and how the ground had been disturbed by impacts. "Multiple individuals involved; seems to have been rather one-sided if the count of footprints is accurate," he said finally as Mae joined him.

"Whoever it was, he or she did some damage to the attackers; look at the stains on the ground there and there," she said, pointing out a couple of places where the dirt was darkened more than it should have been from the exposure to the sun. "Yes, but it didn't help, as nobody is here now. The bad guys must not care about the environmental impact of the leakage, or they would have done something to clean it up," he replied. "This definitely is what we were sent to investigate, and I can see why the Others were spooked; they couldn't see the cause because there was no human around to perceive the actions as they happened."

Teal carefully rolled up to where Mae and Butch were standing and said, /* _Statement: It appears that the attackers left before others arrived; I've detected several individual residual energy signatures that seem vaguely familiar, but yet they are not the same as originally recorded. Query: If they_ _ **are**_ _here, why have they not sought us out?_ */ Mae looked at Teal and a small smile crossed her face as she answered, "They have not sought us out because their sensors cannot detect us for what we really are any more than the Others can see them without a human's senses. But, since we can sense them, changed as they may be from what we remember, we can now track where they are based and offer our assistance."

Butch looked at Mae as Turq rolled over to join them and asked, "But what about the Others? Would they accept that we are still on their side if we get involved in the War?" "Agent Johnson seems to expect us to, so I think at least some of that group of allies will," Mae said, recalling the conversation she had had with him earlier in the day. "And I know Ma and Pa would expect it; the rest of the family I'm not sure about. Our one brother can be fickle about things like that, don't forget."

"Yeah, Sal does act a little funny around us sometimes, but I don't let it bother me. Let's get going; I feel something big is going to happen," Butch said as he got back on Turq and turned back toward the road they had been on. Mae followed suit and they pulled out onto the road, heading toward Jasper. Butch led the way for a bit, then pulled back alongside her. /* _Guardian, I sense a massive presence in the area, but even though it seems quite powerful, it also doesn't seem aware of its own potential. How is that possible? */_ he asked. /* _I sense him too; the reason he isn't aware of his own potential is that he displeased "Lord Megatron" in some way and was trapped in his current form as punishment. We don't currently have to worry about him, */_ Mae replied, realizing that she knew the presence that Butch had spoken of from her life on Cybertron. /* _Don't ask; I'll explain when the time is right, youngling, as I always have._ */

 **Author's Note: Teal and Turq, as Mae and Butch, are Pretenders, which are a form of Cybertronian that has the ability to assume the form of an organic life form; where they differ from previously known examples, such as the Cyberton and Destron Pretenders in Super God Masterforce (the Japanese cartoon) or the Autobot and Decepticon Pretenders of the Marvel G1 Transformers comic, is that the humanoid form is in some ways akin to the Maximal and Predacon races of the Beast Wars 2 era. This means that they can consume and process human foods to produce the amounts of Energon needed to power their Cybertronian systems, though at the size of humans, they don't require nearly the same amount of it as is normal. This has also enable them to survive on Earth for millennia without having access to a full sized form, as Teal shed much of hers due to massive system damage on impact and Turq never had one until recent times (why this is the case for him will be explained in later chapters). Because they are both Cybertronians, they can communicate via radio in the Iacon Dialect of Cybertronian favored by the Autobots, as well as understanding the Kaonese Dialect favored by the Decepticons. They also speak several Earth native languages, such as various Native American tribal languages and US English.**

 **As for the mention of "Voidwalkers and Others" and the presence of FBI Special Agent Johnson, this particular fiction is set in the same corner of the Transformers Prime multi-verse that fellow fan fiction author Foxbear writes in and I am using the characters and concepts with her permission.  
**

 **The chapter title is inspired by the song of the same name by Deep Purple, and sort of fits, though the smoke from the Energon deposit really can't be said to be over water, strictly speaking.**


	2. Eye of the Tiger

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue, Part 2: Eye of the Tiger

-Some time later-

A cloud of dust appears over a short rise in the desert just outside of Jasper Nevada, and the faint roar of powerful engines is heard; as it gets louder, two highly modified Can-Am Spyder F3 three wheel motorcycles crest the rise and slow to a stop. Mae got off and raised the face shield of her helmet to reveal a face that is both young and old at the same time as well as feminine. Her companion remained on his cycle as though uncertain as to what to do next. Mae linked herself with Teal's systems and ran the calculations on the readings she had been picking up the last 20 miles and compared them with those she was familiar with from the War; all reading in her sensor range were within the expected parameters for Autobots she had fought alongside at various times in the War, but the strongest one was in close proximity to a human youth, as were several others that she had no record of. Butch had the same information available through his sensors, and was coming to his own conclusions about what was happening. It was time, and past time, to act on what they knew.

-Butch's PoV-

/* _Pure Cybertronian bio-signatures confirmed_ , */ he heard through his headset as the female figure lowered her face shield again. /* _Multiple bearings, though Arcee and the human will be making an appearance in approximately 1 minute by jumping off of the closed ramp._ */

/* _The young man_ _will be safe, won't he, Guardian?_ */ Butch asked cautiously. /* _I mean, those are Decepticons chasing them, am I right?_ */

/* _Yes, those are Decepticons pursuing them, most likely some form of semi-autonomous drone, since the self styled Lord Megatron tended to utilize questionable methods of recruiting at various times. The boy will be safe, because Arcee will make sure of it; I also suspect that, since Optimus Prime is here on the planet, they will want to make sure the boy isn't harmed by the Decepticons, so one of the 'bots will become his guardian._ */ A faint cry of surprise came from the direction of the uncompleted highway exit ramp as the purple and pink motorcycle jumped carrying her human passenger. Mae smiled at the reaction, but scowled as she noticed something she had previously missed; a younger boy was in the drainage ditch and had seen the cycle and rider. Both turned as the two dark purple cars that had been chasing the motorcycle and boy drove down the embankment towards them, then transformed in midair. /* _Scrap; that's not good. We can't intervene directly and risk revealing ourselves to the 'cons, but 'Cee and 'Bee are going to need a boost until Bulkhead gets there._ */

/* _How is that going to be possible, Guardian? */_ Butch asked.

/* _Just watch and listen, my sweetspark,_ */ Mae said mysteriously, as she prepared to unleash her favorite talent, one learned from a mech she had come to view as an expert in his field. She thought back over the music she liked, and selected a tune appropriate to the occasion.

\- Arcee's PoV-

/* Scrap, another human, though the one that calls himself Jack Darby does seem to be a well balanced rider, when he keeps his hands on the handlebars*/ Arcee thought as she transformed to face the incoming Decepticons. Jack and the younger boy had at least stepped back out of the way so she could concentrate on fighting the Decepticons. She knew Bumblebee should be close by and knew that Bulkhead was coming as well, though how long it would take the big lug to actually arrive was anybot's guess. As she took up a fighting stance, a faint but insistent beat was felt throughout her entire frame, and she took off at a run toward the twin Vehicons that had been pursuing her and Jack.

-Hilltop, Mae's PoV-

/* By the AllSpark; I know those boys, but how? And where? */ Mae thought as she watched Jack and Raf run toward the sewer drain, pursued by a Vehicon. She stood next to Teal watching the scene unfold, and suddenly an old memory began to replay itself.

~~~ Iacon Hall of Records, Cybertron~~~

/* _Sir, I'm concerned about Orion now that he has had these organic pets; they got taken and he's acting like someone punched him in the tanks. Is there anything you can do to help him?_ */ Teal asked her boss, the head archivist Alpha Trion. He slowly rubbed his face with one servo while contemplating the Quill in his other. Finally he spoke, /* _Orion needs to understand these little ones, for reasons I cannot explain, young one; I know only what the Covenant says of them, and find myself wondering why Primus elected to mention them at all, since their kind do not yet have space travel._ */ /* _The Covenant speaks of their kind, Sir?_ */ Teal asked, somewhat astonished that such small creatures could have attracted the attention of their Creator enough to merit reference. /* _Indeed it does, but as I stated, I do not know why,_ */ Alpha Trion said.

Further conversation was halted as Orion and Jazz returned with two small figures; Defensor and Cypher were carried carefully in Jazz's servos and Teal let out a pained ex-vent at the condition of the two. While the smaller of the two, Cypher, seemed relatively unharmed, the same could not be said of Defensor; his condition was horrific, as though he had been forced to fight in some perverse gladiator's arena. /* _Jazz, give me Defensor; he needs some special care. Orion, where in the Pit did you find them?_ */ Teal said to them as they approached Alpha Trion's office. Jazz willingly and carefully handed Defensor to her as Orion let out a low rumbling growl; Teal didn't visibly flinch at his reaction, but firmly said, /* _I promise not to cause him any injury, my friend, but his condition warrants extremely delicate care right now; and again I ask, where did you find them?_ */ /* _In the Organic Pit,_ */ Orion replied with a growl. /* _The mech that had them wanted to work out a "deal" where I could keep them unless he wanted Defensor for a match._ */ /* I _t's bad enough that they were there to begin with, but to attempt to negotiate such a horrifically one sided arrangement is disgusting,_ */ Teal stated, while she scanned the little organic in her servo; what Orion had said was causing her tanks to churn uneasily, as she attempted to determine exactly what course of treatment would be best. /* _Jazz, do you have the medical scans for these organics? I'm having a bit of trouble determining what is normal for this one, so any information you or Orion have would be appreciated,_ */ Teal said to calm herself.

~~~End Flashback~~~

-Autobot Base Omega One, after the battle is over-

"And the 'Cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human," Arcee said to Optimus. "Human?" Optimus asked, while focusing on the console in front of him. Bumblebee chirped something in Cybertronian Basic, to which Optimus replied, "Two boys." "I guess the second one caught us in action, I don't know; I was a little busy at the time," Arcee said irritably, glaring at Bumblebee. Optimus stopped and thought briefly, then said, "If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at grave risk." Bumblebee chirped again, and Arcee said, "Now that you mention it, I did notice that; it felt like it did back on Cyberton when one of the battle-singers would start reinforcing our combat focus." Optimus turned from the console at that and said cryptically, "She is here."

-Jasper Nevada, in a motel-

Mae pulled her cell phone from her pocket and brought up Agent Johnson's number, then held the phone to her ear while it rang. Just as she thought it would not be answered, he picked up and said, "Evening Mae, find out anything important yet?"

"Yes, Johnson; that blast was caused by the Voidwalkers, as you suspected. I don't have a way of giving you hard numbers on this, but there seems to be a hefty number of the bad ones out there; what I do know is that the good ones are ones I'm personally familiar with, so joining up with them, if we choose to, will make things easier on me," Mae said.

"Okay; do you want me to tell anyone about this, beyond the ones that need to be reassured there isn't an imminent invasion planned, or aren't you ready for that, yet?" Johnson asked.

"Not yet, but depending on how things go in the next day or so, that may change," Mae said. As Johnson hung up, Mae's optics dilated a bit as she felt Optimus mention her presence on the planet. Butch noticed it and said, "Guardian, what's up? Your eyes just spun a bit." "Optimus seems to have realized someone he knows is here; this is going to make the next day or so very interesting." Mae said.

-Jasper Nevada, 0700 Hours the next day-

/* Come on, you big lug; I know you're here, just like you know I am. What's taking you so long to get your big aft in gear? */ Mae thought as she and Butch sat at a rest area just outside of town waiting for Optimus to arrive. /* _Guardian, are you sure he will come? Don't forget that you said they can't detect us, so maybe he's not sure exactly where to look for us,_ */ Butch said over their private comm channel. "He'll be here, since he does know what to look for, even if the normal scanning process can't detect us," Mae replied, as a Peterbuilt semi pulled into the rest area. Mae watched it pull into the section of the lot set aside for semis and park, then flash its headlights in an extremely intricate pattern that was too fast for normal humans to notice. /* _That's him?_ */ Butch asked nervously, realizing that the semi had done that to find them. /* _Yes, that is Optimus Prime, youngling. Don't be so jumpy; he likes younglings, even though there haven't been any born to our kind in millennia,_ */ Mae replied, getting off of Teal and walking slowly toward the semi. /* _Let me talk to him first, to see if there is a place we can go that's more private so he can see the whole picture._ */

Optimus sat still in the parking lot, watching the two cycle riders apparently conversing but he didn't hear any audible voices. However, there were weak indications of the presence of Cybertronians here, so he knew that he had found the right place. As the female rider approached, she took off her helmet to show her face fully and he took notice of the features and rapidly cross-referenced this with the appearances of the native life forms; she appeared to be of a tribal group that was not commonly known to reside in the area, and if he had been in robot mode, he would have been frowning at this. /* _Long time, no see Optimus,_ */ she said to him in spoken Cybertronian. /* _Teal? Is that really you?_ */ he sent via radio in response, not quite believing his audio processing subsystems. /* Y _es, it's me. Perceptor's coding modifications worked somewhat better than expected, to be quite honest. My companion and I would like to file an official report with you, preferable somewhere private,_ */ Teal/Mae responded the same way. /* _I know just the place for this; follow me,_ */ Optimus said.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yes, the flashback is set during the events of Chapter 12 of Deja Vu, by Foxbear; while the text that Foxbear wrote in that chapter implies that Jazz treated Jack/Defensor, I felt that having a femme that may possibly remind Jack of Arcee handling that would be a better approach for this story, as Teal's form is, even with her somewhat more massive alt mode on Earth, not all that different from Arcee.**

 **The chapter title is inspired by the song of the same name by Survivor, from the Rocky 3 soundtrack, and is the same song that was felt by Arcee, Bumblebee and to an extent by Bulkhead when facing off against the Vehicons.**


	3. We Will Rock You

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue, Part 3: We will Rock You

-Teal/Mae's PoV-

/* Still the same old bot, */ she thought as she and Butch pulled out onto the road behind Optimus. /* New alt-mode hasn't changed him one bit, and he probably doesn't even notice the admiring looks from the humans that see him, either. Not that I blame him, to be honest; he's got a lot on his processor with having to make sure the Decepticons don't conquer this planet, not that the inhabitants I know about would permit that if they knew of the threat. I don't know if I should tell him or not, though; of course, I don't know enough about the whole defensive system that exists to know how effective it will be. */

/* _Teal, how much does your companion know about us; our liaison officer is going to be upset enough with me for bringing in the human children that saw us yesterday for protection, and I'm not certain I want to explain the presence of additional humans to him if he sees any of you here if he comes,_ */ Optimus said, derailing her line of processing.

/* _I'm sure he's listening, Optimus, since you're using a fairly open Autobot frequency, with only minimal encryption_ , */ Teal responded. /* _On top of that, I've known him since he was a sparkling; he was a good friend when I first arrived here millennia ago._ */ /* _He certainly doesn't look that old, but then some native tribal groups don't look their ages, from what I've read on the Internet,_ */ Optimus replied, surprised that the young looking native male could be as old as Teal had said.

/* Y _es Sir, I'm as old as Teal says I am; my designation is Turq, though the humans know me as Butch,_ */ Butch said, introducing himself. /* _And yes, what you've read does happen to be true; the couple that Teal and I call Ma and Pa don't look anywhere near as old as they really are. I've also met others that were far older than you would think just by looking at them, but not everyone gets to see them_. */

/* _This does sound interesting, but perhaps we should enter the base and continue this discussion with the rest of my team, in a native language of your choosing,_ */ Optimus said as the main entrance of Omega One opened slowly in front of them. /* _My chief medical officer doesn't have much use for humans, so he may be somewhat hostile at first; don't hold it against him,_ */ Optimus said as a warning to the riders.

Teal and Turq rolled in following Optimus through the main entrance tunnel, and they soon came out into an open area with a large control console; Ratchet was standing there monitoring the readouts for any sign of Decepticon activity and Arcee was just coming out of a tunnel entrance on the other side of the chamber. As Optimus transformed to his normal robot mode, Arcee asked, "Find anything Optimus?" In response, Optimus pointed to where Teal and Turq were sitting, engines idling; their riders had gotten off and were stretching a bit. Mae looked up at Arcee, then over at where Ratchet was at his console and said, "If not for you being here, 'Cee, it would seem like I never left." Ratchet looked down at her and said brusquely, "Never saw you before in my life, human", at which she felt Butch bristle. She bit down an angry retort and proceeded to initiate her transformation sequence.

Optimus, Arcee and Bulkhead, who had just joined the group in the main chamber watched in mute astonishment as the human figure before them suddenly transformed into a miniature Cybertronian and the Teal colored three-wheeler went through a complicated sequence of twists until her final form resolved itself into a femme approximately Arcee's height but much more massively built. The wheels that had formed her front end were folded neatly against her shoulders and the one that had been in back was folded and integrated into the portion of her back just above where her legs joined the rest of her body. Ratchet turned at the sound of her transformation. "Teal?" he said in a whisper, then set his jaw and proceeded to scan her to be sure he wasn't seeing things.

"That's my name, old friend; glad to see you DO remember me after all," she said, trying not to laugh at his confusion as her readings came up on his medical scanner. A really confused series of beeps came from the corridor where Arcee and Bulkhead had entered and Teal looked over to see Bumblebee looking down at the human that remained sitting on his three-wheeler. Butch looked up at him and smiled, then said, "I'm Butch; you must be Bumblebee." Bumblebee chirped something softly at him and Butch tilted his head sideways a bit then replied with a series of chirps of his own. Bumblebee shuttered his optics in surprise, then reached down carefully to pick up Butch.

Ratchet, who was still trying to make head-plates or pedes of Teal's readings slowly shook his head and said, "Optimus, I'm not understanding what I'm seeing here; Teal's reading make no sense to me." Optimus didn't answer him, but turned to Teal and said, "It worked?" "Yes Optimus; I'm still not one hundred percent on the precise details of what Perceptor did to my coding, but as Ratchet can verify, I cannot be identified as Cybertronian simply by a normal medical scan," Teal said as Bumblebee walked over to her with Butch held gently in one outstretched servo.

Ratchet had chosen the exact moment that Teal held out hers for Butch to initiate another scan and the scanning beam played over Butch, with results that resulted in an exclamation from Ratchet; "By the AllSpark!"

"What is it Ratchet?" Optimus asked, suspecting he already knew what had prompted his old friend to utter that phrase.

"Butch's human form isn't human at all; it, like Teal's Cybertronian forms, seems to be a blend of human and Cybertronian physiology, but on a level that I've never suspected could be possible. It's almost like his form was once that of a human, but was somehow "reformatted" to match a donor template," Ratchet said, with more than a degree of awe in his voice. As Turq climbed onto Teal's hand, she spoke, "You are more correct than you know, Ratchet. I reformatted Turq due to what would have otherwise been a fatal injury to his original human body."

She carefully held Turq next to her spark as she turned to Optimus; she had a far away look in her optics as she said, "Bumblebee would never have heard this saying before, since it became less common after "they" spread their carefully crafted lies about such things, and in fact by the time he emerged from the Well, it was all but forgotten, but at one time it was said that no Guardian wished to see their Sparkling return to the Well before them. Humans have a similar saying regarding their offspring as well, though it is usually some variation of "no parent wishes to bury their child"."

Optimus nodded and said, "I do recall the saying that you speak of, and know approximately when it became taboo to discuss such things. Are you saying that his parents knew of your abilities and asked you to do this?"

"No, they didn't know; nor did I, to be honest. They suspected I was different, but never explained to me how they could have; all they did was accept what I did with Turq as a sign that the two of us were meant for something greater than they could ever know." Teal ex-vented softly then said, "I thought you were going to be looking for the human children? If my data is correct, the two boys are in the same school, and will be getting out at the same time this afternoon; sending Arcee ahead would be the best course of action, as she is the least likely to be noticed at the school."

-Autobot Base Omega One, 1200 local time, old human quarters-

Optimus Prime carried Mae and Butch down the corridor and knelt in front of a door to let them down. "Teal, I'm sorry that Ratchet co-opted your respective alt modes for further tests," he said as they looked around.

Mae smiled and said, "Optimus, there are only two Mechs in the universe that I would allow to do that, and Ratchet is one of them. You know who the other is, I'm sure."

Optimus nodded and replied, "the other is Perceptor; unfortunately, I do not know his current whereabouts, so Ratchet will need to store any data pertaining to your status in his own memory banks until such time as we meet him again."

Mae nodded, then said, "And he will likely stay close to the base now that the Decepticons are known to be active again, so as to be able to bridge us where we need to go to combat them."

Optimus nodded, "I see you're still mindful of tactical considerations after all this time; old habits die hard?"

"Yes, that and that's the way I tried to train Butch to think, even when he and I looked like human children," Mae said.

Optimus looked at Mae and said, "I know that there are differences in human cultures and there are noticeable differences in human anatomy; how did the culture you found yourself in react to how you must have appeared when you first arrived?"

"Well, I was found by one of their hunters, a female name Lael, who brought me to her village just the way she found me; Perceptor's programming of the stasis pod must have included a randomizing factor in the calculations because I didn't end up looking exactly like her. It also must have released some sort of nanobots to gather other data, so there was a minimal communication barrier between us. She wasn't wearing anything when she found me, and didn't seem to think it strange to find a girl waiting for her where we met," Mae said.

Butch smiled and spoke, "I remember it well, Sir. Lael was our village's only female hunter and it created quite a commotion when she returned with a girl after the earth tremor that we had felt instead of what she had gone out for. Of course, I barely noticed the commotion once I got a good look at Mae; she wasn't unpleasant to look at, and even though my parents tried to stop me, I walked over to where Mae was and started talking to her."

Optimus spoke, "I think I get the picture, as the humans say. Now, Teal are you and Turq sure you're going to be satisfied with the accommodations here? They are rather spartan compared to what you had on Cybertron." Mae smiled, and shook her head. "Optimus, these are luxurious compared to the first few longhouses I lived in when I first arrived on Earth, as Butch can attest," she responded, "and please call me Mae; even though I remember everything from being on Cybertron, unless we are fully linked, my alt mode uses that name. The same is true of Butch and Turq; as you heard, he speaks Cybertronian Basic in human form, as do I. We will be fine."

Optimus nodded and asked, "What about when the children arrive? How do we explain your presence to them?"

Mae looked up at him; "Teal and Turq are our guardians, and they are newly arrived allies, of course. In a sense it's the truth; they don't yet need to know that Butch and I are actually Cybertronian as well," Mae said. Optimus nodded and said, "A sensible answer, as usual."

-Autobot Base Omega One, after school hours-

"Bumblebee is reporting that they have made contact with the children; he is en route with the younger male, and reports that Arcee seems to be having trouble acquiring the older one," Ratchet said from his position at the communication console. "Also, she noticed at least one female that seemed fascinated with her alt mode." Mae giggled; Ratchet looked down at her with a frown, then said, "Of course, you would find it amusing, since you have a similar alt mode yourself. Do human children always find two wheeled vehicles fascinating?" "It depends a lot on where they live, in my experience; where Turq and I lived, such things were extremely rare, so when they were seen, we and other kids did find them fascinating," Mae said. "Elsewhere, they can be less so; I've even heard that in some communities, the authorities have put restrictions in place to make them less appealing to own." "Why would that be the case?" Ratchet asked. Butch chimed in at this point, "As unfortunate as it may sound, there are humans that have a tendency to cause trouble, and motorcycles are their preferred method of transportation; Mae and I have heard about incidents where two rival "gangs" would arrive in a community at around the same time and cause serious trouble for the residents. In at least one case, the leader of the state government was forced to call in the Military Reservists that lived in his state to deal with the problem."

Mae said, " Now remember; they don't need to know either Butch or myself are Cybertronian yet."

As she spoke, they heard the rumbling of Bumblebee's engine and the higher pitched whine of Arcee's, and then they were inside the base. As Mae looked on, two teens got off of Arcee and a third climbed out of Bumblebee, and Arcee and Bumblebee transformed. Ratchet counted and said, "I thought there were two."

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," Arcee and Teal said simultaneously. Ratchet looked down at Mae, who rolled her eyes as if to say "I had nothing to do with it," and then watched Miko go after Bulkhead with a bunch of rapidly asked questions. /* _Don't let her rattle you, big guy; she's just curious about you,_ */ Mae said over a private channel, while keeping an eye on Jack and Raf. Raf appeared to be in awe of his surroundings, especially the computer equipment while Jack was harder to read; more than once, he looked over at Mae as if to say something and each time he was distracted by something else. Mae walked over to where the teens were and waited for Optimus to arrive.

"So, if you're robots, who made you," Raf asked innocently, and Ratchet responded, "Ugh. Puh-leez."

The thudding footsteps of Optimus Prime arriving from another part of the base silenced any further argumentative exchanges between the teen visitors and Ratchet. He stopped and stood to look at them, then said, "We are Autonomous Robotic Lifeforms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots. The other humans you see came with our two latest recruits,Teal and Turq, who have been their guardians for some time." Miko looked around and noticed Mae and immediately bombarded her with questions, like she had with Bulkhead. Jack shook his head and turned to Optimus and asked, "Why are you here?" Mae was only loosely paying attention to the conversation until she heard Ratchet say, "Optimus, the human children are in as much danger here as anywhere. They have no protective shell; if they get underfoot they will go - squish." When he brought his foot down, she tensed as Jack and the others flinched in reaction to the heavy thud it made on the floor of the base. Optimus replied, "Then for the time being we must watch where we step." Teal, sensing the frustration that Mae felt, reacted in a manner that was second nature to her; she stepped carefully over the group and smacked Ratchet in the back of the head. Ratchet spun around and Teal grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "They're little different than sparklings; would you do something like that around our own kind?" Ratchet looked down at the teens, and then shook himself; "No, I wouldn't and you know it."

Just then, the proximity alarm went off. Jack asked what it was and Bumblebee answered, and Raf surprised Mae by providing a basically correct translation of what had been said.

Mae led the group around the corner after Optimus suggested that they stay out of sight of Agent Fowler so there wasn't any discussion of their presence at this time and listened to the conversation. /* _Fowler sounds like a typical government agent to me, Mae,_ */ Butch said silently to her and she found herself in agreement; he sounded a lot like how Agent Johnson did at some times when dealing with him.

"Pretty big bearings, for a human," Bulkhead said after Fowler had reentered the elevator and started back up to where his helicopter was. Teal and Optimus started to speak at the same time and Optimus let Teal finish the statement; "He's just concerned about his world, as he should be."

Teal stood back with Turq watching how Mae and Butch interacted with the three new arrivals, smiling softly as Mae chose to tease Jack about something. Butch had knelt to talk to Raf about something , so she watched Miko for a while. Suddenly, another alarm went off and she moved carefully over to see what it was; Ratchet started grumbling about bugs in the system and that the signal couldn't be right, but Optimus wasn't willing to ignore the possibility that a team member was in Decepticon custody. "Optimus, do you need us to assist, or should we remain here?" Teal asked.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Yes, it's me again. Song in the title is from Queen; it's fitting because meeting extraterrestrial Autonomous Robotic Lifeforms will definitely rock you. And we get to see Teal go ballistic when Ratchet tries to intimidate the kids; the only thing that saves him is Agent Fowler's unexpectedly timely arrival.**


	4. Another Brick in the Wall

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue Part 4: Another Brick in the Wall

Optimus shook his helm, "No, you should remain here to assist Ratchet with the preparation of the medical berth, should we find Cliffjumper. We four should be able to recover him without difficulty."

Teal nodded and said, "As you wish, Optimus. Turq, keep an eye on the humans while I assist Ratchet with medical preparation."

She looked around and saw the medical berth and went over to make sure the equipment was ready while Ratchet readied the ground bridge. She heard the exclamations from the kids as the Autobots bridged out and sensed the reason for it; she was annoyed when Ratchet suggested ground bridging the three teens to Tokyo to visit and said, "Ratchet…" Mae also silently made a suggestion, /* _If you're concerned about stepping on us, why not do something to minimize the possible damage you and the others could do; Teal and Turq have examples of coding you can borrow that will do the job._ */

/* _Mae, I will look into that once the current crisis is dealt with, as my own medic subroutines are telling me what Teal did,_ */ Ratchet replied silently while monitoring Team Prime's progress and waiting to bridge them back when requested. When the system glitched, Raf asked about the computers and offered to fix the problem and Teal was caught up in another memory.

~~~Iacon Hall of Science~~~

Teal was following the little organic, Cypher, in vehicle mode as he walked along the corridor in the Hall of Science. She had handed off care of Defensor to Jazz and Orion, since she was more maneuverable in tight spaces than either of them. Suddenly, Cypher pointed at a spot at the intersection of two corridors and she rolled over to see why he was so excited; she looked closely at the spot and had she been in her robot form, she would have smiled. /* _What is it, Teal?_ */ Orion asked nervously. /* _It seems that we may have a way to find where we need to go after all; what have we been told to do if lost in an unfamiliar area?_ */ she replied. /* _Leave some sort of mark that we would recognize as a trail marker. The organics did this?_ */ he asked with a bit of surprise in his voice as he looked down at Cypher and then over to Jazz, who was holding Defensor. Cypher said something to Teal in a very concerned tone and she told him to climb on her so they could follow the trail. /* _Just support yourself; I will handle propulsion and steering,_ */ she directed when he seemed uncertain about doing so. Slowly they followed the trail of burn marks on the walls of the corridor until they reached the same door that Cypher and Defensor had come through to escape the Mech that had been in the room with them.

As Teal stopped in front of it, Orion reached out to Cypher and the tiny organic willingly climbed into his servo so that Teal could transform. They could all make out the glyphs on the door that said "Space Bridge Research Lab", and they slowly opened the door and entered.

~~~End Flashback~~~

After the teens left with their new guardians to return to their respective dwellings for the night, Mae returned to the quarters that Optimus had shown them earlier in the day; Butch had already picked which room he wanted and was resting, so Mae decided to put what few clothes she had that were clean in the drawers of the built-in dresser and recharge as well. When she awoke the next morning, she decided to take a shower. As she walked to the shower area, she sensed something out of place and spun around and ran down the corridor to the main area. As she reached the corridor entrance, she heard Ratchet's muffled exclamation of "By the AllSpark" and peeked around the corner to see the piece of equipment that had been damaged by Bulkhead earlier in the day attacking him.

She watched as he dodged its attacks and transformed her hand into a smaller version of Teal's blaster, then waited for an opportunity to strike. As the spider-like being jumped at him a second time, she raised her blaster and shot at it, right as Optimus did the same. She watched in amusement as the unfortunate creature fell to the floor, struggled to get up again only to be crushed under Optimus' massive pede, but it was Ratchet's words that made her laugh out loud; "And stay broken."

Optimus turned at her laughter and raised an optic ridge, then turned to listen to what Ratchet was saying. Mae got a chill that had nothing to do with her state of dress when Optimus mentioned his suspicions about what caused the damaged equipment to come to life, and spoke up, "it does stand to reason that's what happened; both with this thing and what Arcee saw in the mine with Cliffjumper. But, what could Megatron's ultimate goal in bringing this stuff to Earth to begin with be?" "To conquer this planet by raising an army of the undead," Optimus stated firmly, as Mae turned to go take her shower.

Later that day, after taking a ride into Jasper with Butch, they returned the Autobot base to find Bulkhead, Miko and Jack gathered around Raf as he attempted to look up some information. Mae got off Teal and ran up the stairs. "What happened?" she asked, noticing that Raf seemed to be trying to hack into a government database of some sort.

Bulkhead managed to look embarrassed as Raf said, "Agent Fowler saw us and tried to take us into custody, but Bulk broke the only working phone here to stop him. Shortly after he left, we received a mayday beacon and I'm trying to hack the Air Force system to get his locator chip data so we can send someone to rescue him."

Mae sighed, then looked over at Bulkhead. "That was a smart move Bulkhead, but your friendly liaison didn't see it that way, from the sound of things. Sounds like a stunt my boss pulled one time, right down to someone having to pull his fat out of the fire." Miko giggled and Mae glared at her; "It's not funny Miko."

Just then Raf gave a triumphant cry and gave Teal the coordinates to input into the ground bridge. Mae and Butch watched as Teal pulled the lever to open the ground bridge then turned to Bulkhead. "Go retrieve Fowler as quickly as possible, Bulkhead; Turq and I will watch the humans while you're gone and if Arcee or the others report back, we will send them to assist," Teal said.

"Got it; Jack, you're in charge of the teens until I get back," Bulkhead said as he lumbered towards the bridge, then vanished from sight.

As Mae turned to climb up onto the communication console to be closer to Teal, she heard Jack calling Miko's name, which made her human looking mesh chitter slightly. Teal muttered "Scrap" as Jack and Raf realized that Miko had followed Bulkhead, and opened the ground bridge again. "Jack, you and Raf go get Miko and try to keep her away from the action; I will see if I can get in touch with Arcee and Bumblebee to help Bulkhead. Turq and Butch, follow them, but do not engage the Decepticons; I need you to keep me apprised of the situation there until I send help."

Mae watched Arcee carefully as Jack walked across the floor toward the ground bridge that Ratchet had opened. Even though it wasn't obvious to the younger humans or Bumblebee, Mae and Teal both could tell that the very thought of Jack leaving was having an effect on Arcee and that she was trying very hard not to crack and beg him not to leave as she said, "Don't make me hunt you down," in response to his well intentioned comment of "I know, you don't exist.

"He wouldn't listen to me," Miko whined as she stood next to the three-wheeler that Mae was sitting on; she had been in the middle of changing clothes to talk to Jack when Bulkhead pulled into the lot and Miko jumped out, stopping long enough to tell him to give them some privacy. "He kept saying he wanted to be ordinary and that an ordinary life suited him just fine. How can he feel that way after meeting the 'Bots? I know you've not known them much longer than we have, but even you seem to like being around them."

"Miko, Jack can't go back to an ordinary life, no matter what he might wish; I think he's realist enough to know that, but the sudden stress of being responsible for more than just his job and school work overwhelmed him. Even you can't go back to what you were, though I know you've been through things that most girls your age wouldn't know how to handle," Mae said and watched as the girl in front of her tensed. "Miko, we met once before, at a B.A.C.A. rally; you were with the twins and I was by myself. I work for the FBI, but as a special investigation officer out of Fairbanks, Alaska, so I don't know your specific case; but if you ever need a sympathetic ear, I'll listen."

Miko looked at her and relaxed some and said, "Don't tell anyone about that, please. The 'Bots especially; they wouldn't understand, and I don't need to lose friends over it."

"I promise I won't tell them, but eventually they will have to know; you can't hide it from them forever. And something tells me that, as different as they may seem to be, the Autobots would understand better than you think," Mae said. "Now, get going; I think Bulkhead is getting impatient to be back at base."

As Miko and Bulkhead drove off, Teal pinged Mae with a question and she slipped her vest on as she answered, /* _Not something any girl that isn't in her mid to late teens should be doing, and most certainly not as a source of income for someone that only has the increase in his personal wealth in mind._ */ Teal idled silently for a moment then pinged another question and Mae grimaced, /* _yes, like those mechs and femmes; it's sad to see that despite our obvious differences, there are some things that are unpleasantly similar._ */

As Mae pulls into the driveway at the Darby house, she noticed Jack look up and do a double take as she got off of Teal. She walked over to him and leaned against the table he was working near; after a few minutes, she spoke. "Jack, it may surprise you to hear this, but things don't always go the way we want: had I had my way, I wouldn't be working with the supervisor I do, because when he first met Butch, he didn't have anything nice to say about him. But now that I have worked with him, I've realized that I would have missed out on some interesting experiences, including meeting you and the others."

Jack sighed and said, "Mae, I need to think about this; what happened today is something that could have gone so wrong it's not funny and I don't see how Miko at least doesn't see that."

Mae smiled and spoke gently, "I understand that, Jack, since I've had to deal with situations in my line of work that could have gone horribly wrong if someone's cover got blown at the wrong time. Having time to think is something I can give you credit for wanting, as it is sometimes best to not make hasty decisions and regret things later on."

Jack looked up as Mae moved and blushed slightly, since she had moved to stand in front of him; Mae giggled and reached down to help him stand. "Jeeze Mae, I didn't think you would come here that minimally dressed," he commented as he saw her outfit.

"Jack, if I could do it without offending people, I'd wear even less than I am now, to be honest," Mae said casually. "I grew up in a tribe that was pretty open about things that the White Man tends to want to hide."

 **Author's note:**

 **Yes, Mae was running around in the nude in the base, but she was only doing so because the kids were not there at the time, and those that were there wouldn't have possibly been offended by it; the Autobots because they don't have the same cultural taboos against nudity that some human cultures do, and Butch simply because she's known him so long. She shows up at the Darby house in her bikini bottom and vest simply to try to get Jack's attention long enough to tell him what she wants to. The references to B.A.C.A. and the twins are hints at the storyline of Foxbear's Dirty Little Secrets and Where the Heart Is Chapter 4.**

 **The song in the chapter title is from Pink Floyd's seminal album The Wall and it's an apt description of the situation the Autobot forces have reached with Jack's departure.**


	5. The Final Countdown

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Prologue Part 5: The Final Countdown

/* _The man-cub reminds me of you, Orion, in so many ways it's not funny,_ */ Mae said from the top of Optimus Prime's private data console in his quarters. She was standing there nude, studying the reports from the Nemesis incident, so she sensed, rather than saw, him looking at her as he replied /* _In what way, Mae?_ */

/* _His sense of duty, for one thing; and it's that sense of duty that will bring him back to us. Let me explain. While what happened on the Nemesis no doubt frightened him, as it should any sane being, at the same time how he reacted under pressure is uncannily like how you reacted to being made Prime all those vorns ago. He accepted the responsibility for the welfare of the two younger teens without visually flinching away from it._ */

/* _But they should never have been there on the Nemesis to begin with,_ */ Optimus said.

/* _True, but it's Jack's sense of duty that caused him to follow Miko and try to protect her that lead to them being there. As I heard personally, when Bulkhead went to retrieve Fowler, he left Jack in charge of the teens and that's why Jack and Raf followed; to try to find Miko and keep her safe. That's also why I sent Turq, for that matter. The rest was an unfortunate thing, but since it happened, as the humans say, "You can't unscramble eggs". Jack just needs a nudge from the right person to realize how much he is needed here and he will return,_ */ Mae concluded.

Optimus looked thoughtful at that and asked, /* _Who is that right person, if you and Miko couldn't get him to return?_ */

Mae looked at him and said /* _Truthfully, I didn't exactly try to; I just told him about things I've seen. His guardian Arcee will be the one. She looked horribly disappointed when he walked through the ground bridge, if you understood how to read her perpetually scowling expression. And like a certain medic that we both know, she'd rather peel her plating off than admit it to any of the team._ */

She looked up at Optimus as she heard a soft rumbling noise from his direction and watched as he nodded his head. /* _The vorns we have been apart have not taken your memory of the quirks of your former teammates, I see. Even more amazing is that you have spent much of that time without access to a much larger form to ease travel between destinations. But then, that would have marked you as different and possibly had repercussions that I cannot fathom._ */

/* _Strangely enough, the ones I met first, and ended up staying with, knew I was different but weren't bothered by it. Perhaps someday I will explain that in detail, but for now that is all I can tell you,_ */ Mae said. She stretched and Optimus marvelled at the similarities between the small human shaped Autobot on his desk and the young human girl Miko. Even without being able to see Miko's skin, he knew that she would look very much like what Mae did if he ever did see her in less.

/* _Mae, I have been wondering whether the humans had something similar to our Well from which they gain their offspring, but have not known who to ask. Is this something you know an answer to?_ */ Optimus asked as he studied her form.

Mae smiled as she turned to face him, then carefully sat down on the console. /* _I can answer the question, but you must understand that because of my nature, I have no practical experience with the entire thing. While it might seem contradictory, they both do and do not have a Well of Allsparks._ */

Optimus tilted his head and said, /* _Explain, as it does seem to be as you say._ */

/* _Humans believe that the soul, which is similar in principle to our Spark, comes from another source while the physical manifestation of the offspring comes from within the human female's body,_ */ she said slowly.

/* _From within the female? I suppose that is sufficient information for now, as the way you are sitting suggests a few things that I had not considered,_ */ Optimus said, carefully gauging her reaction.

She smiled, then stood with a sigh, pulled on her vest and loincloth and switched languages. "Optimus, would you please tell Ratchet to back off. Butch is trying to help Agent Fowler, but he can't concentrate with Ratchet stomping around the medical section of the base. Teal and Turq are about to tag-team him if he doesn't settle down, and that's not going to look good if the kids come in."

"I may not understand the exact wording, but the implication of what you are saying is clear so I will speak to him immediately," Optimus said as he reached carefully over and picked her up off of the desk. He walked out of his quarters and down the corridor to the main area to see Teal and Turq pushing Ratchet quickly away from where Agent Fowler and Butch were. Optimus spoke quietly but with some degree of force, "Ratchet, stand down and let Butch work on Agent Fowler; I know it's annoying you, but do you really want them to move up to the top of the mesa so the local wildlife can bother them?"

Ratchet glared at Mae but allowed Teal and Turq to escort him to the main console area while Butch looked relieved to be able to concentrate on his attempt to settle Agent Fowler; Mae heard him murmur "Thanks Guardian" as Optimus knelt to set her on the ground. She smiled and put a hand alongside his on the temple of Agent Fowler's head to see if she could get a sense of what had happened from the delirious agent but was unsuccessful. ~* _I tried that too; too turbulent in his thoughts to see anything,_ *~ Butch said as she pulled her hand away.

~* _The Clan medicine men taught you well, it seems. The one thing that they could not teach is how to concentrate with a metal titan stomping around, mainly because that form was lost to me just before we met,_ *~ Mae said as Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee entered the base. She watched Arcee transform and walk over to where she and Butch were, then kneel to look at Agent Fowler.

"Any improvement yet," Arcee asked with a hopeful expression on her faceplates, though it didn't change when Butch indicated a negative. "Mae, I talked to Jack; he's got to work, but I will be picking him up when his shift is over."

Mae smiled and said, "I knew he would make the right choice, and I suspect that he needed to hear whatever it was you told him to realize just how important he is to all of us, but most especially you."

Arcee grimaced and Mae spoke, "Yes, I know you don't like to admit it after the things that have happened in the past, but you and I both know it's the truth. But don't worry, I won't tell any of the teens about it."

As Arcee stood and walked away, Butch said, ~* _You knew her before you came to us, Guardian?_ *~

~* _Yes. She has lost friends, some that were very close to her. The one that made her spark hard is the loss of a Mech named Tailgate at the servos of one whose name I dare not utter, lest it draw the glitch to this world somehow,_ *~ Mae said angrily, seeing in her processor the Femme that had caused her friend so much anguish.

Butch lay a hand on her arm and said, ~* _Save your anger for the battlefield, Guardian; it will do Agent Fowler no good for you to be close to him in his current condition if you remain so._ *~

She smiled and answered, ~* _You're right, sweetspark. It's just that Arcee used to be such a sweet femme until the trauma of losing Tailgate occurred that the thought of the femme responsible for it angers me._ *~

Teal had walked over after Arcee walked away and as she knelt, she spoke, ~* _That one will be dealt with if found; that's all the more that needs to be said._ *~

~* _You're right, Teal; let's join the others and leave Butch to tend Agent Fowler,_ *~ Mae said as she climbed into Teal's outstretched servo. Teal stood carefully and placed Mae on her shoulder as she walked over to where Ratchet was searching for the Decepticon Space Bridge. "No luck finding it yet, Ratchet?" Mae asked from her perch on Teal's shoulder.

"It's like looking for a servo in a scrapyard," Ratchet replied in a gruff voice, as he changed to another sector of the sky to scan. Raf looked up at her from his laptop and shook his head as well.

Miko looked up from where she was sitting and saw Mae on Teal's shoulder; she walked over to the railing and said, "How do you manage to stay up there when she moves around? I'd think you fall off. And what are you wearing?!"

Mae laughed and said, "We've known these 'Bots for a few years, so it's second nature for us to stay in place when they move. And surely you are familiar with the traditional dress of the Native Americans?"

"Cool; wonder if Bulkhead would let me ride on his shoulder, but I'm not going to go around like that," Miko said when Raf gave a triumphant cry.

"Found it, over Africa," he said just as Arcee came pulling in with Jack. The others came over while the Autobots debated how they were going to get there. Eventually it was decided that they would risk using the ground bridge even though it could potentially scatter their parts; the threat of Megatron gaining an army of undead warriors was greater than that of their death.

Teal and Turq, along with Ratchet, stayed behind as the others went through the bridge. Mae climbed down Teal's arm to the raised platform where the teens were and smiled at Jack, who smiled back. "The more I thought about it, the more it became clear you were right, Mae," he said. "Then, I ran into Arcee in the parking lot at work and she more or less said she needed to have me around, so I came back."

Mae grinned, then said quietly, "She needs to have someone to watch over; they all do, though some of them will try to make it seem like they have no desire to have us around." She looked pointedly at Ratchet, who was monitoring the Autobot assault team on the space bridge. When it became clear that the Decepticon ship needed an assist from some other source to lock on Cybertron, she crouched next to Raf as he tried to hack his way into the system that was most likely to be the one that would be used. She smiled when he looked over at her briefly and patted his hand, then got up and walked over where Jack and Miko were standing.

She accompanied the teens to the Giant Size Array grounds and picked the lock on the door so they could get inside; she stayed outside the door, not wanting to be recorded on the internal security cameras, so she looked around outside while the teens did what they came to do. When she heard a jet fly away, she realized that a Decepticon had been there too, so she ran to see if the teens were okay. They were waiting for her at the ground bridge and she heard Raf comment on her skin sheen. "You're safe, but from your expression Raf, I'd say the mission was a partial failure."

Raf nodded and said sadly, "The Space Bridge is locked permanently on Cybertron, but I did manage to get the schematics for it, so maybe we can still beat them."

Mae nodded and led them into the ground bridge and they returned to the Autobot base. Upon their return, they discovered that Megatron had sent a massive chunk of Dark Energon through the Space Bridge and the Autobots were in need of an ace in the hole. Mae pushed Raf forward gently and he said to Ratchet "Would the schematics help?" as he held up the flash drive containing the files he had copied. Ratchet nodded, and Raf inserted the flash drive and sent the files over to the mainframe the Autobots were using, then smiled up at Mae shyly.

"Without a means of leaving this world, we Autobots take strength in the bonds we have forged with our three young friends - true warriors. If not in body, then in spirit. My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message. Though we did not choose to be of Earth, it would seem that we are here to stay. If you approach this planet with hostile intent, know this: We will defend ourselves. We will defend humanity. We will defend... our home."

Raf looked up at Optimus and asked, "Why just mention us? Aren't Mae and the others staying?"

Mae answered the question, "Yes, we will be here Raf, but Butch and I do work, so there will likely be times that we will be unable to assist. This is part of the reason that Optimus didn't mention us; the other is that we don't really want the Decepticon forces to know how many they may be fighting in future battles." She smiled at Raf as his eyes brightened, then looked around to see where the others were.

 **Author's note:**

 **Yes, I decided to show Ratchet being frustrated by the presence of a sick human a bit differently than what the show did when Raf got infected with Dark Energon. However, since this is set during Darkness Rising rather than later in the main series, it is quite likely that Ratchet really was frustrated by the babbling from Fowler after his being hit several times by Starscream's Energon Prod, but since it was not material to the main story, it was glossed over. I'm also leaving out some things that I'm sure folks have seen done hundreds of times and focus on interactions behind the scenes. Of course, it wouldn't be the end of Darkness Rising without Optimus Prime's message, so I included that.**

 **Yes, I've hinted at the reason why Arcee is such a hard case, but not by name.**

 **Song in the title is from the group Europe and describes what this situation would have been had the Autobots failed to stop Megatron.**


	6. Give me the Prize

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 1: Give me the Prize

Mae was tossing and turning in her recharge state; Jack and Arcee had just had an unpleasant encounter with Airachnid that had reminded her vividly of her own worst nightmare, and she was having trouble getting comfortable as a result. Butch, who was laying next to her, wasn't fairing much better; his own nightmare was tied in with Mae's and he was doing as she was.

Suddenly, Butch whimpered and clutched at Mae, pulling her close to him. Her eyes opened and she cuddled him, knowing that his memories had taken over and right then he wasn't the strong twin brother that most people saw him as, but rather the frightened, dying boy whose life had become tied up in her own in a way that she could never give up until she returned to the Well. His eyes were open, but unfocused, and she could feel the terror of the memories through the guardian bond. He pushed himself against her and she wrapped her arms around him, letting him feel loved and protected from the bad things.

\- Long Ago-

It started out like any other day for them. Teal and Turq would head out after eating their morning meal with his family to spend the day exploring; Teal often would neglect to wear anything other than her moccasins, and no one thought anything odd about it, since she didn't flaunt her lack of certain things like other girls would. Turq, for his part, ignored the ribbing that he would get from the older males in the tribe for spending so much time with her. Little did they know that the day would end with Turq's transformation into something new.

~* Teal, look at this, *~ Turq called out from where he was examining a plant. Teal, who had decided to go for a quick swim in the creek, came over carrying her moccasins and wringing out her hair with her free hand. She knelt next to him and examined what he showed her carefully while braiding her hair back up. Turq smiled as she followed his explanation attentively, never seemingly distracted by anything going on around them. ~* You're amazing, *~ he said finally. ~* You're the only girl except for Lael that doesn't try to hide when I walk by while you're bathing, and you don't fuss about what position you sit in around me. *~

Teal smiled and took hold of his hands, saying, ~* Your family has accepted that my tribe has different customs and that it would be unfair for them to force me to change them. I thank them, and you especially, for ignoring those that speak rudely about me and how I choose to dress and act in the village. This is why I am so comfortable like this. That, and in many small ways you remind me of the leader of my tribe, Orion. *~

He squirmed and colored a bit, then said in response, ~* I'm not a leader, Teal, so how can I be like him. *~

~* He wasn't expecting to be named leader when he and a friend went before our council of elders to address some things that were needing changed. His friend said some things that we were beginning to suspect were his true goal, and when Orion was called to speak, his words stirred the hearts of the council and they chose him over the other, *~ Teal remarked.

~* Interesting. Was his friend happy about it, or did they argue afterwards? *~ Turq asked, honest curiosity in his voice and facial expression.

~* What should have been a joyful time for our tribe at the selection of Orion as our leader, was the start of a war. Those that believed only a strong leader answering to no one but himself was the right way followed Megus and those that believed a true leader should guide the people with compassion followed Orion. There were others that, while they accepted Orion as their leader, could not find it within themselves to support either faction that attempted to continue their lives as before, but Megus refused to let them be, so eventually they fled our home, *~ Teal said sadly.

~* That's sad; is that why you left, or was there another reason? *~ Turq asked softly after a few minutes contemplation of what she had said.

~* I didn't leave immediately; in fact, it wasn't totally my choice to leave at all. The war interrupted some research I was doing for Orion's best medicine man Percy, and I had to remain in case he wished to consult with me about something I had discovered in my exploration of our tribe's past; by the time we were able to do so, the war had ravaged our land to the point where everyone had to leave it for a time, and we barely had time to properly prepare me for the journey to a safe place for me to continue the studies I wanted to conduct, *~ Teal said, looking up at Turq. ~* But now I don't have access to much of the research data and can't continue it, even though I want to. All I can do is evaluate what I experience now that I am here and learn from it. *~

Turq squeezed her hands and said, ~* You're starting to get mopey on me, Teal. You're no fun like that. Let's go swimming or something. *~

Teal grinned and pulled him up as she stood. ~* Swim, and then sunbathe completely nude? *~ she suggested sweetly.

Turq grinned back and said ~* Why not. It sounds fun this time. *~

Teal ran towards the creek with Turq close on her heels and after he stopped briefly to shed his loincloth, they both ran into the water. Teal slipped smoothly under the water and swam out into a deeper section while he followed her more slowly. They came to the surface and looked at each other and laughed, each casually splashing water at the other in turn, then paddled slowly towards each other until they were less than an arm's length apart.

From the woods, a pair of eyes watched them at play, though the creature that the eyes belonged to was indistinct, as though it wasn't truly there. This was Tikaani, one of the Inuit wolf spirits. *They are in danger but do not yet sense it, though the girl may perceive it slightly before the boy, despite her appearing to not truly be one of them,* he thought. *Curious that her form is so perfectly that of a human that I can barely determine she is not, but perhaps we were so focused on the destruction the Voidwalkers caused that the humans could not discover this themselves. What she truly is does not matter; they must be warned and protected from the coming attack.* With that thought, he solidified his form into that of a young wolf and continued to watch.

As Teal swam to the shore and got out of the water, she stopped and began to look around with more than just her eyes. In some manner that she could not define, the world around her looked darker, as though she was seeing it through the smoke of a cooking fire centered on her current location. Turq slowed as he got out and asked cautiously, ~* What is it, Teal? *~

~* Something is affecting the lighting here, but I am uncertain as to what it is yet,*~ she answered, stepping cautiously forward and extended the senses that the tribe had taught her to use that were the gift of the Others.

Tikaani heard her speak and stood slowly in the forest, then spoke to them, ~* A hunter comes, young ones; run for the village while you have time. I will delay it until you reach safety. *~

Teal felt a chill as Tikaani spoke,but swiftly reached out and took hold of Turq's hand before starting to run for the village. Turq, for his part, did not question why; he simply ran.

Tikaani wheeled about and bared his fangs in a snarl at the hunter and swiftly grew in size while becoming somewhat hazy to the eye and focusing on the hunger maddened creature that was swiftly approaching his location. It swiped at him with long, razor-like claws but despite his increased size compared to what he had seemed to be to the children, he easily dodged the clumsy attacks and sank his fangs into it. It howled in pain and Tikaani bit harder, then suddenly stiffened as he sensed another take off in pursuit of the children. He released the hunter long enough to let out a single, bone-chilling howl that was meant as both warning and call to arms, then renewed his attack on the one closest to him.

Teal heard the howl and understood without being told that the danger had increased, so she increased her pace and did her best to keep hold of Turq's hand. But it was not to be. Three things happened simultaneously; the light around them faded to blackness, Teal heard Turq scream in pain and felt him fall limply against her back, and the forest air around them filled with growling, howling forms that formed a protective circle around the two children.

Teal turned and carefully guided Turq to the ground, her left arm supporting him under the head as she cradled him and tried to calm his cries of pain from the wounds he had received. As she watched, the light that he emitted that wasn't visible to most people began to fade and she cried out, ~* No, you can't go. *~

She heard a faint voice borne on the wind, one that she knew and had never hoped to hear after the devastation of Cybertron. The voice said, /* _It is his destiny to become more than what he was born into his world as, just as it was your destiny to be sent there at this time. You can aid him and thus assure that your destinies intertwine as prophesied at his birth_. */ Teal looked up to the stars to thank her Creator and, with a calm intake of breath, began the long process of saving his life.

As she carefully gathered the essential parts of Turq's memories and stabilized his life essence, an unseen energy barrier formed around them; its existence enraged the hunter that had struck Turq, and it attempted to strike them both but the claws impacted the barrier harmlessly.

Teal concentrated and noticed minute points of light scattered at precise intervals throughout Turq human form; she sensed that these points of light, if merged carefully into a single object, would within nearly precise parameters match the Cybertronian Spark. She further noted that his existing biomass shared many of the same characteristics of the Cybertronian protoform and that in her current state it would be easy to modify his body to match what was required for the new form to function properly.

Teal lay Turq's still but breathing form on the ground and allowed her natural form to show, because she was going to need to provide him purified Energon for his reawakening. Her entire focus settled on his spark, as it was going to be the most difficult part of his transformation. Slowly she nudged the individual points of light to see how they were anchored, then cautiously reshaped the bonding patterns so that they would gravitate towards one another and link together. Slowly, ever so slowly, she sensed that the spark was indeed forming as she had surmised it would from the energy within those points of light. His form blurred often as the spark formed, each time coming back to full visibility in its original look though in fact it too was undergoing massive changes.

After a time, Turq's eyes slowly opened and he looked around, frantically searching for something. When he saw her, his initial reaction was to recoil in terror, but she simply smiled and let her chest plates open to reveal her spark to him. As his eyes fell upon the spark within her, his own chest plate opened to reveal his spark and she felt the coding that had once been forced to dormancy by the war awaken; a thin conduit extended from her spark to Turq's developing one and the purified Energon that she had to give him, along with the knowledge of Cybertron and its various languages traveled into his body to be stored in his newly enhanced processor and memory banks. When the transfer ended and both of their chests had closed, he looked up at her and said, in nearly perfect Iaconian Cybertronian, /* _What has happened to me, Guardian? The last I remember, the shadow beast had struck me._ */

Teal smiled sadly as she answered in the same language, /* _You were dying and I had no choice but to reshape you into one of my own kind, but retaining as much of your original form as I could. I felt in my spark that you would not want to leave me alone if there was a way to prevent it, so I did what I felt was the correct thing at the time. I can only pray that the Elders and your parents accept it since I know that it was once said among my people that no Guardian wanted to see their sparkling go to the Well before they did themselves._ */

As they were talking, the energy field that had protected them faded and Tikaani approached them, again at his normal size. He waited patiently as they spoke in a language that he could not understand, and once they had stopped, he spoke, ~* You have done what needed to be done, Teal. Turq's destiny was tied to yours the moment his mother gave birth to him, though no one in the village understood until Lael brought you to them. Wolf protected, and will continue to protect, the village until such time as the Voidwalkers are dealt with one way or another. *~

 **Authors note:**

 **Nasty flashback, but it gives insight into the two main characters and the connection between them. I tried not to make it too gory, but still show how badly hurt Turq was. Also, the characters she speaks of when talking about the war that split her tribe should be easily identified; Orion is Optimus Prime (Orion Pax) and Megus is Megatronus (Megatron). She simply used variant forms of the names.**

 **Tikaani is, or seems to be from some of my research, one of a number of words in the Inuit language that means "wolf"; Amaroq (or Amarok, as in Foxbear's various stories) is another. I may make a connection between my wolf character and hers in a later chapter or I may not; I have not decided yet.**

 **The song in the title is from the Queen album A Kind of Magic, many of which appear on the soundtrack for the movie The Highlander. On the album, it is subtitled Kurgan's Theme, and is a reference to the ultimate goal of the Game, which is the reason for the fighting between the Immortals. The prize in this case is not leadership over humanity as it was in the movie, but immortality of a sort.**


	7. End of the Innocence

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 2: End of the Innocence

(Takes place after Foxbear's Deja Vu)

(8 PM Mountain Time, Jasper Nevada)

Mae was sitting in a small eatery in Jasper when Mrs. Ravenclaw walked in and sat at the counter next to her; the older looking Paiute woman seemed troubled and Mae wondered what would have caused the normally unflappable school librarian to feel that way. Mae was about to ask when Mrs. Ravenclaw spoke. "Hello Elder Mae; I have a bit of a dilemma that maybe you can help me with."

~* _Which of the young ones is giving you grey hairs now, child?_ *~ Mae asked solemnly in Paiute as she shifted in her seat to look at her companion.

Mrs. Ravenclaw smiled at the comment from Mae, who was subtly indicating her status, then replied in the same language ~* _Jackson Darby, of all people. He actually got physically violent with Vince at school today, though Vince was tormenting Darby's young friend Rafael, so in a way it's kind of understandable. I don't think I've ever seen the boy do anything like that before, so it's quite disconcerting to encounter._ *~

Mae sighed and said, ~* _That indeed would be a shock to someone who is not expecting it; Jackson didn't hurt Vince too badly, no matter how much he may have deserved it, I suspect. You need not concern yourself about a repeat of the incident; I will speak to Jackson the next time I see him and remind him that he has a good reputation to uphold and further fighting with Vince will tarnish it._ *~

Mrs. Ravenclaw smiled and said ~* _Thank you Elder Mae. I will watch the boy, for my own peace of mind, but trust that whatever you say to him will bring pleasant results for all parties, including those that don't precisely deserve them._ *~

As Mae stood to leave and reached for her bill, Mrs. Ravenclaw spoke and place her own hand on it. ~* _Go Elder Mae; I will pay for your meal, as a means of repayment for your advice to me. You no doubt have much to think on this night._ *~ Mae smiled as she walked out to where Teal was patiently waiting for her.

/* _Jack is still with Optimus, Mae,_ */ she heard as they drove toward the Darby residence; Mae grimaced, but continued on so she could talk to June. After the events of the preceding few days, Mae had come to trust June and felt that it was time someone other than the Autobots knew the secret she and Butch shared, but was uncertain how to explain it to the woman. /* _Mae, June will figure it out sooner or later, you know. The hardest part is going to be convincing her not to say anything to Jackson, as you and I both know he has a gift that the Clan should train, but it's best he doesn't know that you and Butch are what you are,_ */ Teal said softly.

/* _I know Teal; I'm just remembering the shock of when Ma first saw me transform, and all the questions she asked, some of which were downright embarrassing._ */ Mae replied through their link, all the while steeling herself for a similar barrage of question from June.

(Darby Residence, 11:30 PM Mountain Time)

"I knew it," June said after Mae had spoken at length. "Believe it or not, I did suspect something when you came out of nowhere to rescue me from that horrible situation. I didn't say anything to Jack about it, as I wasn't one hundred percent certain, but I did wonder how you could have stayed under the radar, so to speak. Does Agent Fowler know?"

"No, but he may find out at some point," Mae said. "My boss knows where I am, but he doesn't know all the details, nor does he want to, since he deals with things that most folks aren't supposed to know about, but not the sort of things that Fowler deals with. I wouldn't put it past him to mention it to Fowler at some point and say not to mention it to anyone." Mae stretched her arms upward and noticed June admiring her form. "Similar, yet different, right?"

June blushed a bit, but said in response, "Yes, and it's amazing how readily you adapted to the look of a human; I would have to say that if you were fully clothed with a hood up in your natural form, not many people would notice the difference unless you stopped and spoke to someone."

(Omega One, two days later, after school)

Jack rode into Omega One with Raf, as his balance still wasn't supposed to be good enough after his "accident" to ride Arcee; he knew Bumblebee didn't mind the extra passenger, but he still felt awkward about it, since it was supposed to be personal time for Bee and Raf.

As they came to a stop inside the base, Jack noticed that neither Arcee or Teal were present, but since Mae was there, in one of her various semi non-traditional Native American outfits, he knew that her guardian couldn't be too far away. Jack and Raf got out of Bumblebee and he transformed; as Jack walked past, Mae reached out and touched him gently on the shoulder. "Teal is up topside waiting for you," she said, "though I'm not sure what she wanted; she wouldn't tell me."

Jack said to her, "Thanks for letting me know; I'll go see what she wants right away. Mae turned and walked over to where Raf was as Jack turned and walked over to the elevator to go up to the mesa; while there was a staircase up to the top as well, Jack was still sore from the fighting he had done in the Organic Pit in Iacon, so he chose the less stressful way up.

Walking out onto the plateau on top of the mesa, Jack noticed the teal colored three-wheeler sitting a few feet from the stone cairn that he knew was the memorial for Cliffjumper; he walked over to her and stood there until she spoke. "I don't think 'Cee would mind if you sat on me, nor would Mae," Teal said softly, turning her front end toward him, much like Arcee would do. Jack carefully swung a leg over her seat and put his hands on her handlebars.

"Mae said you wanted to talk to me," he said. "What's up?"

Teal was silent for a moment, then revved her engine a bit and said, "I have to say I'm proud of you for how you tried to protect Raf in a potentially hostile environment like the Organic Pit. I can only imagine what it was like to be forced to do something because someone else's life was in danger if you didn't, but you managed to survive despite the odds stacked against you."

Jack nodded and said, "Like I told Optimus, I didn't want to kill anything; I didn't even want to be there, but like you said, I had to do those things or they would have hurt Raf. I couldn't let that happen; I kept looking for Orion, whom we called Hunter, hoping to see him come through the door and rescue us."

"Which he did; he and Jazz did everything they could to find you, as you know," she said. "Orion was hurt by the deceit that was used to acquire the two of you; I had never seen him act that way before and it surprised me."

Jack looked down at her and said, "Jazz; he must be the one that we called Cool, mainly because we couldn't translate his name. But how did you know Orion? I don't recall seeing you there, although the time period just before I awakened in the base afterwards is fuzzy."

Teal said, " Climb off a minute; I think you'll remember me." Jack got off and stepped back as she transformed and knelt in front of him. She set her servo on the ground and he stepped onto it as she stood to her full height. She brought him up to her chest and held him next to her spark and his eyes grew wide.

"It was you, wasn't it? You were the one that cared for me while they were trying to find where the lab we had arrived on Cybertron was," he said as he rested his head against her chest and felt her spark pulsating. "So different from Arcee in so many ways, yet so like her that I didn't have any reason to be uncomfortable about you holding me."

"Yes, it was me, and at the time I couldn't understand anything you were saying. Orion, Jazz, and Ratchet helped too, of course, but I was the one most focused on your care after we found the lab," Teal said. "As for how I knew him we both worked in the Hall of Records, though I was often out looking for artifacts of our ancestors; it's purely by chance that I was in Iacon at the time you were there."

Jack thought for a minute and then said, "So you had stopped in to see someone the day we showed up, I suppose. And you were no doubt fascinated by us when you saw us."

"Yes, on both counts. I was reporting to Alpha Trion on the progress of the retrieval of some ancient data storage units when I first saw you sitting on Orion's kiosk. You actually must have been in recharge at the time because neither you nor Raf stirred when I spoke to Orion, but he assured me that the two of you were in fact online," Teal said.

"We probably were sleeping, as the Cybertronian day is longer than that of Earth . And I like your updated alt-mode. It's a Can-Am Spyder, isn't it?" Jack asked.

"Yes, it is; Mae and Butch helped Turq and myself pick out more appropriate alt-modes when they found us; I won't go into detail on how we met beyond that, so if you want to know, you'll have to ask her," Teal said as she carefully placed him on the ground then transformed back into her alt-mode.

Jack shook his head and said, "It still bothers me to think about what I did to that innocent machine, but I'm sure you understand after fighting in a war like you did. And I imagine that's part of the reason you stay out of the fighting and help Ratchet so much; you, like Optimus, don't really like fighting, but know that the Decepticon forces need contained somewhere."

A voice piped up from behind Jack, "That's part of it, Jack, but the truth is that we're often away from the base for days working for our FBI boss, and can't get too involved in the fighting." Jack turned to see Mae, clad in a bone vest, loincloth and moccasins, with a necklace consisting of turquoise stones and silver disks arranged around a single long tooth. As he watched her approach, he heard Teal idle away and head back into the base through the lift platform. "Jackson Eagle's Wing Darby, please have a seat so we can talk," Mae continued as she spread out a blanket in the shadow of Cliffjumper's memorial.

"Eagle's Wing?" he asked, as puzzled by the formality of her speech as the apparent grant of a name of some kind of importance, though he did take a seat as she had asked and looked up at her.

"Yes Jack; I feel your actions while you were gone were worthy of such an honor, even if you may question whether or not some of the things you were forced into doing make you worthy," she said as she sat across from him. He shook his head and laughed and she smiled.

"Mae, you're right; I do question it, because I was forced to choose between Raf and an innocent machine. Are such choices always this hard?" he asked, looking down at his hands where the rested on his knees.

Mae reached out to placed a hand on one of his, and sighed. "Jack, you're not the first person I've worked with after something like this, and that question is almost always one of the first asked by a person that was put in that situation. I've also had to work with innocent children that were caught in the crossfire of a shootout, and they wonder similar things about their specific situation. Nobody sane gains enjoyment from ending a life, not even your guardian Arcee; I don't even think she would if the one that she sent back to their Well was Airachnid, but don't tell her I said that." Mae gave Jack a cheeky grin as she said that, and Jack had to smile despite his personal anxiety about his own actions.

"So, what does the name signify? I'm sure it must have some kind of meaning," he said, filing away what she had said about Arcee and Airachnid and continuing on from there.

"It means you do your best to protect those you care about, in much the same way as an eagle seeks to shelter its young under its wings, which is true. Even before we first met, I saw this; Butch and I were some distance away when you and Raf were running from the Decepticons that Arcee was fighting and I saw you trying then to protect him. And when Miko ran through the ground bridge to follow Bulkhead, I knew you would want to do the same for her, as did Teal, so we let you go and sent Turq and Butch as observers," Mae explained.

"I remember the latter well, but I don't remember seeing you at the time Raf and I headed for the drainage tunnel," Jack commented, thinking about the events of that day.

"No, you wouldn't have seen us; Teal wanted to stay out of sight but still be able to observe and give what assistance she could without actually getting directly involved in the combat," Mae pointed out. "She has some interesting special abilities that she used to use back on Cybertron, or so she's told me, that only work on her own kind and only on allies to boot. You may want to ask the Autobots about the Battle Singers some time; they are a fascinating bunch."

"I think I have heard Arcee talk about a Bot named Blaster and his habit of playing inspiring music during a battle," Jack mused as he considered her words. He also recalled the sensation of being observed from a distance, as well as feeling an undefinable "something" as he watched Arcee make her initial attack on the Vehicons that day. He shook it off; it wasn't worth mentioning to Mae, he decided, since it could easily have been nerves from the shock of finding out humanity wasn't the only intelligent life in the universe and having been told not to reveal their existence. Mae observed how his body shifted as he recalled something and decided that she would let him decide if it was important, though she suspected she already knew what it was.

Mae smiled, "Teal has mentioned him to me on several occasions as well, and told me about how he trained her to do something similar when he noticed how her presence could reinforce his music. Speaking of which, what song was it that you shared with Optimus that day after he returned from his unexpected adventure? He was quite impressed with it, but wouldn't tell Teal or myself what it was; he said to ask you when we asked."

Jack smiled and pulled out his mp3 player from where he kept it. He held out the earbuds and said, "I'll let you listen to it and perhaps you'll see why he was impressed." Mae carefully put them into her ears and listened as he hit the play button on it. As Mae listened, she saw in her mind those closest to her; her brother Zechariah and Sal, rolling down the highway together. As the song progressed, she shuddered, thinking of how it could easily happen that a truck driver could get stuck in snow and have to somehow find shelter until he could be helped in weather such as was being described. As the song ended, with the truck driver having been found safe and making contact with his wife to tell her he was safe, she smiled at Jack.

"A very moving song, young man," she said finally. "It holds special meaning to you, since you look up to Optimus, and when he came up missing, it was like a part of your family was suddenly gone and you didn't know what had happened to him. And I think I understand why it impressed him; he's never really thought of himself as anything but a leader of the Cybertronian people, according to Teal, and to have someone compare him to what they used to refer to as a Guardian was something unexpected."

Jack flushed and said, "I didn't specifically mean it that way, though I suppose from what he told me just before I shared it with him it probably was a surprise to him that we all seemed to feel that way. It does fit, though, doesn't it?"

"Yes, and I did hear from Ratchet some of the same things Optimus no doubt mentioned, since as you know we were elsewhere at the time; I honestly don't think Teal would have wanted to be in the silo at the same time Megatron was, you know," Mae said, handing the earbuds back to Jack so he could put his mp3 player away again. "Now do you see why I granted you that name, Jack? Not only for how you handled yourself to protect Raf, but actually holding the team together when their leader was missing. He chose well when he gave you that artifact of Cybertron."


	8. Beds Are Burning, Part 1

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 3: Beds are Burning, Part 1

(Takes place during Chapters 14 and 15 Foxbear's Blood and Energon)

The cellphone started chiming and Mae reached down to pick it up from where it lay beside her on the blanket. She answered it, "Mae speaking," and was only mildly surprised to hear Agent Johnson on the other end.

"Afternoon Mae; got a bit of unpleasant news for you. There's been an altercation in British Columbia and your brothers were involved," Agent Johnson said. "Zech is okay, but Sal looks like something tried to use him as a pin cushion. There was another driver involved that insisted on taking him whenever Zech wanted to go, so he's headed back home."

Mae had sat upright, and was shaking; she managed to control it long enough to ask, "Who was the driver that he was with, and what color was the truck this driver was operating?" While waiting for the answer, she stood and grabbed the blanket she had been laying on and stalked over to where she had parked Teal. She draped the blanket over the seat and leaned against Teal.

"The driver was a Private Smith and he was driving a heavily modified Peterbuilt. Color was red with blue flames," Johnson said.

"And you're leaving something out; something big," Mae said curtly.

"Yes; I saw Red Warrior, or whatever his name really is," Johnson said.

/* Great, */ Mae thought while she said, "And you blew a chance to get in his good graces?"

"Worse than that, I'm afraid; I said something that may have turned Sal against Red Warrior's kind," Johnson admitted.

"Don't bet on that; if I know Salcha, he'll be beating himself up over a blown opportunity when the initial shock wears off. He's done it before, you know," she said with a grin. "Thanks for letting ; I guess this means I get to go home and check up on my little brothers."

After she hung up, Mae pulled her hot pants on and laced up her boots, then put on her vest and helmet. She tucked the phone into a vest pocket and swung a leg over Teal's seat. /* _Mae to Ratchet; I'm on my way in and I'll need a ground bridge when I arrive,_ */ she said over the encrypted channel. /* _I'll provide coordinates when I arrive._ */

-Autobot Base Omega One-

Ratchet was mulling over the possible causes of interference that were preventing him from being able to locate Optimus and Jack when Mae pulled in on Teal. She turned Teal around and faced the ground bridge portal and gave him the coordinates she wanted to be transported to and he groaned. "Mae, I'm not sure I can send you there; some kind of energy field is blocking our sensors and I can't see what's there at the moment," he said to her and she shook her head.

"Those coordinates are safe, trust me; if it's 'Cons you're worried about, something tells me they are going to have as much trouble as you are, so quit whining and open the bridge for me," she replied.

"I'll get you as close as I can," Ratchet growled and began searching for a location close to where she wanted to go that he could send her to.

While she was waiting, Miko came in from a different part if the base and asked," Can I come with?"

Mae sighed and said," Not this time, Miko; one of my brothers got hurt and he needs his big sister. Maybe another time; and please don't try to follow." Miko whined a bit, and Bulkhead reached down and picked her up to make sure she didn't follow. Ratchet opened the ground bridge and Mae revved up Teal's engine and took off slowly through the portal. When she came out on the other side, she stopped briefly to see where exactly she was. She pulled off the road at the nearby rest area and looked around to see who was watching, then checked with her extra senses to determine how much farther she had to go to reach the house.

(Several hours later)

Mae and Teal followed the road, noticing where chunks of metal had fallen off of a truck along the side, then slowed as they saw Amarok pulling a young moose in the general direction of the Franklin property. She called out, "Do you want me to help, or can your get that yourself, Amarok?"

The wolf looked up from where he had stopped and walked over to sniff at her, wagged his tail briefly, then sat on his haunches and said, "If you wish to assist me, that is fine; I was bringing it to your brother, since he was hurt and needs something substantial to heal properly." She grinned and helped him drag it over to where Teal was, and strapped it over the back. "I will meet you at the garage, which is where Red Warrior dropped him off," Amarok said, then ran off into the woods. Mae got back on Teal and drove on to the homestead; while riding, Teal spoke /* _Who is this Red Warrior that Amarok spoke of?_ */

Mae replied softly, /* _Who do you think, Teal? Optimus and Jack were heading to a military base in Alaska to pick up some supplies, and were to briefly pass through Canadian territory before returning to the base. Then Johnson called to tell me that Sal and Zech had been in an altercation of some sort. My guess is that the Decepticons somehow found Optimus and attacked, and Sal was trying to help when he got hurt. And then some of the Others have gotten involved to protect Jack, which is why Ratchet can't detect anything in this area._ */

Teal was quiet for the rest of the trip, and Mae was able to pull up next to the garage door and unload the moose carcass for Amarok to drag inside. She waited in the shadows until she saw Zech exit the garage, then she walked slowly up behind him and said, "How are you feeling, little brother?" Zech spun around and then shook his head. "I will never, ever get used to you doing that, will I?"

She smiled and put her arms on his shoulders, "That's not an answer to my question, and you know it." He sighed then said, "Nothing's broken, thanks to Amarok; Salcha, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The other driver, Smith, is fine, though he does seem a little young to have been given the responsibility of driving a rig like he had. Ma is in the garage with Sal now, so maybe we should go in the house and talk there.

"Sure, and I suspect that Amarok is keeping an eye on our younger siblings for Ma, so we will be able to talk about what happened," Mae said as they walk towards the house; Mae smelled the food cooking and knew one of the aunts was busy in the kitchen so she steered Zech toward the bathroom after allowing him to get some clean clothes from his room. She waited by the window in Zech's room, looking out over the parking lot and toward the garage where Sal was, wondering what had actually transpired that day. When Zech came back in, he saw her and sighed, which got her attention.

"You had your first encounter with Voidwalkers," she said without turning around.

"Yes, and it's got me wondering about what we've been taught about them, to be honest," he replied cautiously. "I honestly see them as not so different from us in so many ways; the few differences must be due to differences between their homeworld and ours."

She turned around and said, "It's a sign of incomplete information about them, among other things, dear brother. It's understandable, though; as few humans as survived the Cataclysm that the Voidwalkers indirectly caused, it's a wonder anything was learned about them at all."

"Red Warrior is a noble being; it was he that recommended that I go with Smith to a safe place. That's where Amarok found and protected us. The ones that attacked him were cowards, even the one that seemed above the petty behavior of his companion. Then, after the battle, Johnson had to come along and ruin the moment by pointing out what Red Warrior was," Zech said sadly.

"He realized he did something stupid afterwards; I'm not sure exactly when, but it was before he called me to let me know about the incident. I half suspect it was a show of dominance, though; he's pretty territorial when it comes to what we know and if any outsiders are around, he comes off as a hardcase," Mae pointed out.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, there was a guy there there in a suit that seemed to be in charge of handling Red Warrior or something. And I got the feeling that he wasn't a heck of a lot different in personality than Johnson before he even spoke," Zech said.

"The Eagle and the Penguin," Mae said with a giggle. "I've had to deal with Red Warrior's "handler" recently, and yes, it's like dealing with an African-American version of Johnson."

"But why did you call him an Eagle; the Penguin I can understand for Johnson, but not the other," Zech said slowly.

"Agent Fowler, Red Warrior's "handler" is retired Air Force, and Special Forces on top of that, so Eagle is the most appropriate choice, though he wouldn't appreciate hearing it any more than Johnson would hearing us call him a Penguin," Mae said, and Zech found himself agreeing with her.

A light knock on the door caused Mae to turn as Ma Franklin peeked in and said, "Mae, glad to see you're here; Salcha seems to be better now, but you've got some experience with the things he's seen, I presume, so maybe you ought to go talk to him about them.

Mae smiled and said, "I'll go talk to him shortly, unless you want to grill Zech now."

"No, he's been through enough today, so I'll leave him in your capable hands until tomorrow," Ma said with a wink, and Zech blushed.

Mae laughed and said, "Get some sleep, brother dear; you need it. I'll go talk to Salcha while you do." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and walked over to the door as he swatted at her playfully. She followed Ma Franklin down the hall to the entrance of the home and paused at the door.

Ma looked over at her and said, "Got the equivalent of butterflies in the stomach, daughter of mine?" As Mae nodded reluctantly, she said thoughtfully, "Salcha doesn't bite, usually. He can be a little abrasive, but that's part of whatever kind of being he is, just like you have abilities that most of us can't fathom living with. Besides, you're a lot older that he is, and you have that life experience to draw on to help him understand them better."

Mae giggled and said, "Sal can be difficult to talk to at times, but hopefully this won't be one of them." She hugged Ma and walked out to the garage and carefully opened the door.

She stepped inside and looked at the dimly lit repair bay where Sal was sitting. Even though she had seen the metal from his truck body on the drive in, the damage she saw made her gasp in astonishment. She saw his twitching tentacles stop briefly and heard him say, "Who's there?"

She stepped carefully into the light and said softly, "It's Mae, Salcha. I was told you were hurt and came to see you." She walked up next to the frame and leaned over, then pulled on the heavy gloves that were laying there and started carefully pulling out metal splinters like Zech had been doing earlier in the day.

Sal reached out with several tentacles and gripped her arms gently, and said in a shaky voice, "I saw a Voidwalker, and he saw me for what I am and wasn't afraid of me. He," and the voice trailed off.

"He what, Sal?" Mae asked gently as she leaned in closer to him. She felt Sal trembling and risked a scan of his life signs to see if she could see if there was a physical reason for his shakiness.

"He let me drink his life blood," Sal finally admitted. "He was leaking it and I asked so that it wasn't wasted, and he said I could." Mae smiled as she stroked his tentacles; he responded by reaching out with yet another tentacle to stroke her cheek. "You smell of them," he said absently, "does your work bring you in contact with them?"

Mae smiled and said softly, "Yes, and I've met the one you traveled with; he's very noble, wouldn't you say?"

"Far more noble than those that attacked us because they could track his life's blood," Sal said with a growl; Mae felt the subsonics from it, but didn't flinch. Sal continued, either not noticing her lack of reaction, or simply not commenting on it, and said, "Do you think he would want to be my friend, even though we've been taught his kind did bad things to our world?"

 **Authors Note:**

 **I'm splitting this into at least two chapters because there are a lot of things I want to focus on related to the Franklin family and specifically the way the eldest of the children interact, though Butch isn't directly involved.**

 **The chapter title is from the song by the Australian group Midnight Oil, and will make more sense once I post the next chapter.**

" **How can we dance when our earth is turning?**

 **How do we sleep while our beds are burning?"**


	9. Chapter 4: Beds are Burning, Part 2

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 4: Beds are Burning, Part 2

(Takes place during Chapters 14 and 15 Foxbear's Blood and Energon)

Mae paused before she responded; she had honestly not expected the question, as Salcha had expressed a dislike for anything that was not of Earth long ago, and she assumed that he would still hold that opinion of the Voidwalkers now. "I believe he would," she finally said. "He is a very patient individual, and would likely accept that you are part of my family even though you look nothing like Butch or myself."

Salcha loosened his grip on Mae and asked softly, "Is there a Voidwalker here close by? I think I sense one on the property, but it hasn't made any hostile movements that I can sense, so I can't be sure of it."

Mae thought to herself, /* You can't sense that I'm one, little brother? */ as she responded aloud. "Yes, there is one close by, but she would never harm anyone on this property; she's known Red Warrior for far longer than our kind can remember without the histories we pass on and he would not be pleased by such an act on her part."

Salcha said softly, "Could I meet this Voidwalker, please? I have to know if they really don't care what I am."

Mae said, "Of course, dear brother. Please wait a few moments while I speak to her and open the garage door so she can come inside." As he slowly let her go, she stepped away from his chassis and went to the main garage door and opened it. She walked over to where she had parked Teal and sat down on Teal's seat. "Would you be interested in introducing yourself to Salcha formally?" she asked her other self wryly.

Teal said softly, "Of course I would, and I'll try not to give him too much of a scare when I transform beside him." Mae giggled softly as Teal slowly rolled into the garage and parked next to Salcha.

Mae got off and said, "Sal, this is Teal, the Voidwalker you sensed. Teal, this is my brother Salcha. I will leave the two of you to talk, but I will be close by in case either of you want me for something." As she walked out and lowered the door, she felt rather than saw Amarok join her. She reached down and stroked his fur and murmured softly, "So much like Tikaani," and she felt him nuzzle her leg playfully.

"I should hope so," he replied with mock indignation, as she continued to stroke his fur. "I heard the stories about you and your brother from him from the time I was a pup, but every time I asked to meet you, he told me it was not yet time for that. How he knew your kind would once again make their way here I do not know, but he waited to allow me to meet you until you had resumed the ability to change your shape once more."

Inside the garage, Teal turned her front end toward Salcha and looked over the mangled metal until she saw the tentacles waving from around the engine. "Ah, there you are. I imagine you're nervous and possibly uncomfortable about being this close to a Voidwalker, aren't you," she said softly.

Salcha noticed that she had remained in the form she had been in and her voice seemed to drift from near the cowling above the headlight of the three-wheeler sitting next to him. "Yes, to both things you said. I have seen Red Warrior, but his form is closer to my own than yours is," he replied slowly. "Please understand that I have not heard good things about your kind and until today I have not seen anything to make me change my thinking about them."

"Mae explained this to me when we first became acquainted, which is why I have refrained from revealing myself in this area in the past few years," Teal said, while trying to determine how best to transform without becoming fully erect, as doing so might leave dents in the roof. "Red Warrior is a kind mech, which to our kind would be much like your brothers Butch and Zechariah. That is why he helped you; he cares about all intelligent beings, no matter what they look like. Now, I'm going to change my form so that you can see what I look like in it."

She rolled back slowly and triggered her transformation sequence; as he watched, Salcha saw the three-wheeler slowly alter her shape until she was kneeling where she had stopped. The front wheels were folded almost out of sight behind her shoulders and the back wheel could not be seen from the angle he was looking at her, but he assumed it was now integrated somewhere in her back. "You almost look like one of them, except much larger," he finally said. The fact that she looked much like his human siblings both calmed him and piqued his curiosity. "Do all of your kind look like that? " he asked after some minutes contemplation of her form.

"Like what," Teal asked, sensing that her new acquaintance was struggling with something he couldn't quite put into words.

Sal grumbled, "I don't have the right words for it, Teal," he finally admitted.

"Sal, while it is true that we now look quite similar to humans, our world's history tells of other beings that share our origins, and it is those that differed from what we consider the normal appearance, which is that of a nominally bipedal race. However, they died out in a great cataclysm long before I crawled from the Well," Teal said gently.

Outside, Amarok looked meaningfully at the garage and asked, "Is it wise for him to know as much as he is being told?"

Mae said in response, "Uncertain. You know how unpredictable he can be, but I suspect Teal is telling him things that are important to her impressions of what he needs to know about us so that if he ever does meet up with any Autobots, he knows to treat them with respect, since they will defend this world in spite of what the lesser known Others might think would be the actions of our kind."

"A point well taken," Amarok said as he sat on his haunches next to her. "The Decepticons are the ones that are the truest threat to this world; this was impressed upon me by Tikaani repeatedly, though until I saw the damage done in British Columbia, and how they acted toward Red Warrior, I truly did not understand the sort of beings that they are and how little they care for anything not like themselves."

Mae nodded absently, thinking back to her first day on Earth and the questions she was asked by the village elders during the evening. "Yes, they have little regard for life forms they consider inferior, even those of their own kind. They have even less regard for those of their own kind that either refuse to join them and attempt to continue living as they had been doing or those that stand in opposition to their goal of total domination of any world their leader sets his optics on conquering. Of course, we both know that they would need to discover a weapon of some sort that could outclass the one that exists to defend this world to conquer it."


	10. Those Shoes

Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 5: Those Shoes

(Flashback that takes place during Crisscross)

Mae was riding along a dusty trail on Teal, with Butch and Turq following them at a safe distance when her cellphone chimed and the helmet AI told her of an incoming call. "Answer," she responded and the voice of Agent Johnson was heard.

"Afternoon Mae. Hate to disturb you, but I've heard that someone calling himself Silas has been seen playing with some rather large toys; the kind that don't seem to like to be treated as puppets," he said brusquely. "I've also read your vaguely worded, yet informative, report on your friends' encounter with MECH, so I know you're aware of what sort of toys he prefers."

Mae grimaced and pulled off to the side of trails before responding, "Yeah, I know MECH, and "Silas". Did some digging after the incident in question and found out he's really Colonel Leland Bishop; apparently, he took offense at being told one of his pet projects was "too dangerous" to be put into use and went renegade. There's more to it, but I'm sure you get the idea."

Mae could have sworn she heard Johnson grimace over the phone as he commented, "Why does that not surprise me after what I read in your report? Of course, there is a little package here on my desk that you may want; apparently someone found a sticky, web-like substance in the forest in one of the national parks and the Forest Service got involved. Where should I send it?"

Mae felt a tightening in her gut when she heard that and said, "Send it to Ma, with a note to keep it out of reach of the young ones. If she's involved, my friends will definitely want to know."

"Consider it done, Mae. I take it you have some idea who is involved with MECH, then?" Johnson remarked. "Whoever it is, they sound downright creepy to me, and you haven't even said a name, which is fine by me; the less I know about your friends and their enemies, the better, for reasons I'm sure you understand."

Mae smiled as she answered, "Yeah, you don't want to know what this one has done, and even if you did I probably wouldn't tell you; she's something that makes the nightmares that people have about creatures like Salcha seem like downright pleasant experiences." Mae shuddered as she thought again about what Arcee had found in the ship that Jack had bravely blown up as Butch laid a hand on her shoulder to help her steady herself.

After extracting a promise from Mae to provide a report of the incident, even if somewhat sterilized, Johnson terminated the call. Butch looked at her and asked softly, * What did he want this time, Guardian? / When she didn't answer right away, he said, * Is it MECH again? Or someone else this time? /

* Sweetspark, it's worse than just MECH; Silas has apparently joined forces with Airachnid for some unknown purpose, / She replied, fighting to control her rage at the boldness of the human. * No, not unknown; Airachnid wants Jack and MECH wants a replacement for Breakdown. She'll try to take Jack from 'Cee and let MECH haul her off for their twisted research to enhance humanity. But how will they get the two of them to come willingly? /

Butch shook his head and said, * I don't know, but we better get back to Jasper and start looking for them before they have a chance to put any kind of plan into action. /

Mae said, in English, "I want you to head to Omega One and let the others know about this; I will begin searching for them since I know Jack and 'Cee's habits best. Let me know if you find out anything I could benefit from knowing that Optimus or Ratchet come up with."

"Okay, I will do that," Butch said as he got on Turq and drove off.

Mae sat down on Teal and started off toward Jasper. Once back on the main road, Teal said, * If I remember correctly, Jack said he went inside of Airachnid's ship briefly. Is it possible that the internal systems recorded an image of him when he did so? /

Mae thought about that and replied, * It's possible and if Airachnid was able to recover the black box, as humans call it, she would have a means of searching for him, though it would take Silas to make her aware of that, no doubt. Why? /

* Think about it, Mae. How do you get someone to come to you if they wouldn't otherwise come? You bait the trap you want them to walk into, / Teal answered as she turned herself toward the hospital where June worked.

* Those… / Mae growled as Teal accelerated to just under the speed limit. * They're going to go after June and use her as bait to draw Jack and 'Cee to them. Let's hope we get there in time to stop them. /

Just then, she got a call from Butch over their private channel. * Jack's been grounded because June heard he was street racing. We both know it was just the couple of times and he hasn't done it since 'Bee got reprimanded for it, but Arcee has to be in two places at once, and we know how that will work out, / he said.

Mae grimaced and replied, * Thanks for that; pass this on to Optimus. Silas is going to snatch June as bait to draw in Jack and Arcee; I'm heading to the hospital to see if I can prevent it, but if I can't, I will have to do what I can to keep things from going too far south, if you get my drift. I will not require backup; repeat, no Autobot backup. June will be scared enough with two giant robots, as well as whatever predicament she's in as the bait, and we don't need to make a possibly bad situation worse. /

Mae could sense Butch wanting to argue, but he finally said, * Understood, Guardian. I don't like it, and neither will Optimus, but you're right and I'm sure he knows it. /

Mae said with a smile, * Yes sweetspark, he knows to trust my judgment on things like this. Now, be a good sparkling and tell him what I told you. / Mae could hear his chuckle as he broke the connection.

Just before Teal reached the hospital, Optimus called them. "Mae, be very careful; we don't need MECH figuring out you're any different than a normal human, especially if Airachnid is anywhere nearby when you make contact."

"Understood, and I will be extremely cautious around them," she said as she pulled in next to June's red car. She got off Teal and walked around the car and caught a scent. "No. We're too late, Teal." Not only did she smell the exhaust of the van that had been used to snatch June, she also saw that June's purse was laying on the ground where she had dropped it when she was knocked out.

Mae picked up the purse and carried it into the hospital and told the night shift nurse what she surmised had happened; the nurse took it gratefully and promised to make sure June got it when she saw her, then made sure that Mae promised to be careful with getting June back. Mae ran out to Teal and got on and the two of them started hunting.

* Mae, there are several abandoned factories in the same quadrant you are that would be an ideal hiding place for MECH. I will send you their coordinates momentarily, / Ratchet said as they cruised along. As the data arrived, Mae noted what appeared to be a weak Energon signature traveling toward one of the locations.

* Ratchet, I think I've found them; it looks like Arcee and Jack have taken the bait and are closing in on the site as well. I will have Teal drop me off a distance away and travel the rest of the way on foot; it's going to be the easiest way to handle this, as I don't want them to see Teal, / Mae told him.

* Understood Mae; may Primus protect you, / he replied as she pulled over next to a fenced in area. She stripped off her vest and loincloth and pulled on the same gear she would if involved in an FBI raid; a form fitting bodysuit and black sunglasses, which she was using to conceal the use of her eyes as an infrared viewing system. She did not take any weapons, as she did not plan to need firearms, due to her better than human physical conditioning. She carefully climbed over the fence and dropped to the ground, scanning for heat signatures in the area she had just entered.

Over in the abandoned cement factory, she could hear the gunfire that no doubt signified that MECH had seen Arcee and hoped that they were either lousy shots, or were precise enough to target areas away from where any actual harm could befall Jack; she knew that he wouldn't want to leave his partner for any longer than he had to to locate his mother and rescue her, since doing so would leave her at the dubious mercy of MECH.

Mae easily made her way through the abandoned lot she had entered and was soon climbing over the fence into the cement factory; she took a careful look.around, raising her glasses briefly to get an undistorted view of her surroundings before lowering them again. She kept to the shadows, trusting any of the shadow creatures that might be there to aid her in remaining concealed from the humans scattered throughout the factory grounds. She heard Jack calling out for his mom and looked up. What she saw made her Energon boil and freeze at the same time; hanging from one of the highest spots in the factory, wrapped in a partial cocoon of synthetic webbing, was a woman that she immediately knew was June Darby; Jack's mom.

* The nerve of that femme.. / she thought as she moved swiftly through the shadows to where the poor woman was dangling. * Teal, are you getting this? / she asked cautiously over their private frequency.

* Yes. Be extremely cautious; shr is no doubt very close to where you are, and we don't need her catching you and cutting that webbing to spite Jack and Arcee, / Teal replied with an angry edge to her transmitted vocalizations.

* I will; don't you do anything rash, as that will be just as dangerous for us and them as my doing so, / Mae pointed out, not really needing to, but wanting to make sure her other half remembered it. She heard an amused huff from the other end, then the channel went dead. With that settled, Mae got to work climbing up the tower that Jack's mom was dangling from as quietly as she could manage without possibly alerting the spider-con of her presence. As with her trip this far, she felt the presence of friendly Others that were more than willing to assist her without question, so she was soon in a position to observe the coming fireworks.

Mae didn't have long to wait; Jack had found his mom, with a not so subtle hint from Airachnid, and was quick to climb up to attempt to help her. Unfortunately, the spider-con had other ideas and trapped Jack hand in some webbing to torment him with the threat of her torturing June; it took every bit of restraint that Mae could muster for her not to react as she heard Airachnid say "Agonizing, or excruciating?"

Waiting out of view of Airachnid, Mae was able to see and hear what was going on elsewhere on the property, so she wasn't surprised when Arcee came driving up some of the pipework to tackle her nemesis; as the two of them traded blows, Mae carefully climbed the rest of the way up and was in position when the catwalk extension that June was dangling from dropped. Jack saw her and stared, not sure if he was seeing things or not.

"Jack, is that your mom in the webbing?" Mae asked as she prepared her climbing ropes for the tricky rescue that she would need to do.

"Yes; how did you find us? Arcee couldn't get a message through because"...

"Silas was generating some kind of interference field that blocked her transmissions," she finished for him. "The creep knows too much already, and even if he gains nothing tangible out of this "alliance", he gains more knowledge about Cybertronians that he can use against our friends," she continued. Looking over the edge, she called down to June. "Ms. Darby, I'm Mae Franklin, Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'll get you down safely, but you need to stay as still as possible; that webbing won't hold much longer."

After June's initial shock at meeting the Autobots had subsided some, she looked around the base that Jack had brought her to and noticed two additional Autobots and two humans standing with them. "Jack, who are they and why didn't Optimus introduce them as well?" she asked as they walked over.

Jack said, "Do you remember the female FBI agent that was at the factory last night?" When his mother nodded, he continued, "This is FBI agent Mae Franklin, her brother Butch, and the two Autobots are Teal and Turq, their partners."

Mae smiled and spoke, "Hello again June; the reason Optimus didn't introduce us is that Teal and Turq aren't officially part of his team. Butch and I have known about Teal and Turq longer than we've known about the others and generally the four of us act as unofficial support for them rather than as direct members of the team. It's easier for us, since we work for a different branch of the government that isn't supposed to know about them." When she saw June's puzzled look at that, she explained, "Our boss knows some things, but we have to be cautious about what we pass on, since not everyone that sees my reports understands the concept of security as we do, and if they got too much detail, it would get back to the Decepticons, which as I'm sure you've guessed wouldn't be good for anyone."

June slowly nodded then smiled shyly as Teal knelt down and extended her servo. "I'm sorry we didn't make it in time to stop those men from abducting you, June. Mae's boss contacted us about a potential situation that existed, but we didn't realize the extent of the situation until after they had already acquired you," Teal said seriously.

June blinked in surprise, but reached out and clasped the offered servo in appreciation for the sentiment. "Thank you, Teal. I've never had an experience like that before and it's not one I would like to repeat, if it can be helped," she replied nervously.

Teal smiled and replied, "That is why Arcee has been assigned to Jack; to protect him from the Decepticons. Since you now know of our kind, she will also be protecting you when she can." June let go of the massive servo after giving it a gentle squeeze, then watched as Teal stood and Turq took her place.

She smiled at the massive Autobot and was surprised when he extended a massive servo and ever so lightly touched her forehead with an extended digit. He smiled back at her and said, "You seem to accept that we are real, but aren't entirely sure how creatures like us can survive on your world without being seen." As she nodded, he went on, explaining to her about the T-cog that each Cybertronian possessed and how it enabled them to adopt the shape and appearance of any native vehicle that they were able to scan.

Jack watched his mother interacting with Turq and smiled despite the oddness of the situation. "He really seems to know what to say to calm her, doesn't he," he remarked to Mae, who was standing next to him watching as well. "She's taking this all pretty well considering what could have happened last night."

"Yes, Jack, but the bad things didn't happen," Mae replied tartly, which caused Jack to turn toward her. "I wasn't going to let anything happen if I could help it; I've seen too many kids go through that in my time with the Bureau, and it's never a good experience for them when it happens. As for what Turq is doing, he's slightly better at doing that than Teal is, simply because he doesn't have her combat experience to sidetrack his thinking in a given situation."


End file.
